


Rantipole

by phoenix (imkillingthissh1t)



Series: Rantipole [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Action, Alcohol, Athletes, Basketball, Bisexuality, Coming of Age, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Developing Friendships, F/F, F/M, Fame, Family Drama, Family Issues, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Fun, High School, Horny Teenagers, Light Angst, Manga & Anime, Marijuana, Mommy Issues, Other, POV Female Character, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smoking, Sports, Teen Romance, Teenage Dorks, Teenagers, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:55:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 27
Words: 216,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29210721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imkillingthissh1t/pseuds/phoenix
Summary: rantipole: a wild and reckless young person.That's the type of young lady that [Last Name][Name] has always sought to be. A loud teenager who can tear up the town on a Friday night and rant about how capitalism is the root of all evil without a care in the world. Her reputable life in America, however, never quite allowed for that.Her family takes pride in being pristine prodigies; never once has a [Last Name] spoken out of turn. The [Last Name] household avoids all controversy. Everyone was always watching, after all-- always listening. And once the spotlight got to be too much for her, [Name] fled. Tokyo is where she landed. A place where she hoped she could find companions to experience her remaining teenage youth with.Who knew she'd get wrapped into not one, but two separate teams of high school boys, obsessed with the very sports she had been so well known for in the life she'd hoped to escape?
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Reader, Akashi Seijuurou/Reader, Aomine Daiki/Reader, Azumane Asahi/Reader, Bokuto Koutarou/Reader, Ennoshita Chikara/Reader, Haiba Lev/Reader, Himuro Tatsuya/Reader, Hinata Shouyou/Reader, Iwaizumi Hajime/Reader, Izuki Shun/Reader, Kagami Taiga/Reader, Kageyama Tobio/Reader, Kasamatsu Yukio/Reader, Kise Ryouta/Reader, Kita Shinsuke/Reader, Kozume Kenma/Reader, Kuroko Tetsuya/Reader, Kuroo Tetsurou/Reader, Kyoutani Kentarou/Reader, Midorima Shintarou/Reader, Miya Atsumu/Reader, Miya Osamu/Reader, Momoi Satsuki/Reader, Murasakibara Atsushi/Reader, Nishinoya Yuu/Reader, Oikawa Tooru/Reader, Sakusa Kiyoomi/Reader, Sawamura Daichi/Reader, Semi Eita/Reader, Shimizu Kiyoko/Reader, Sugawara Koushi/Reader, Suna Rintarou/Reader, Takao Kazunari/Reader, Tanaka Ryuunosuke/Reader, Tendou Satori/Reader, Terushima Yuuji/Reader, Tsukishima Kei/Reader, Ushijima Wakatoshi/Reader, Yachi Hitoka/Reader, Yamaguchi Tadashi/Reader
Series: Rantipole [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2144673
Comments: 34
Kudos: 98





	1. Seirin

My lips loosen from around the mouth of my water bottle as I quench my thirst. Twisting over my shoulder, I pull my bag towards my hip so that I can stuff the [F/C] flask into the side pocket whilst walking. With a soft yawn, I rub some grit out of one of my eyes and glance around my environment, jet lagged out of my mind. After an eight hour flight and an hour-long taxi drive, I ended up throwing what little I had into my new apartment and immediately began making my way to what would be my new school, Seirin High. It’s already a week or so into school; I’m a bit late. But to be fair to myself, I am transferring all the way from America to here in Tokyo. 

I may only be sixteen, but I’ve been more or less taking care of myself for years. With constant attention always creeping up on me in America, I've learned that I really am alone in the midst of thousands of stares. I have learned how to keep in line and how to keep my mouth shut. I have been taught what I must never say. Ever. And if I complain I will be looked-down upon. I will be seen as ungrateful. I am a young lady with a platform- therefore I must be a role model. I must be humble. I must be mature. Constantly being in the public eye, I have more or less been an adult since the rough age of ten.

Needless to say, the trip wasn’t difficult, and I’m not too worried about living so far away from home on my own. I need the getaway. I was getting tired of my life back in the states. Standing under the spotlight for so long has worn me out. Seeing as I’m fluent in three separate languages, Japanese being one of them, I saved up and made the trip out here. The reason I chose Japan out of all the countries I could’ve comfortably settled in is for one reason and that reason alone.

The basketball.

I hear it’s not too big, out here; but it’s gaining popularity. They don’t play the same as we do in America, but the work ethic and passion seems to be exponential in this country compared to what I’m used to. Most Americans have claims with nothing to show for. Goals and passions are so easily given up on due to propagated education, subconsciously draining children of their drive and guiding them towards a miserable job-life that profits the economy over their health. 

While I admittedly don't think that Japanese culture is quite up my alley (family-orientation and respecting authority? No, not my cup of tea), I do admire the work ethic that comes with it. And that’s what I’ve been looking for, what I’ve been hungering. A hardworking team that evolves together in order to make their way towards the top rather than relying on the starters to do everything for them.

Not only that, but there has been speculation surrounding my generation in Japan. Supposedly, the first year age bracket over here happens to host quite a flock of prodigies in basketball. With all of these talents headed for different high schools across the country, I’m intrigued to see how each team is matched up against one another in the tournaments I’ve been hearing so much about.

Despite the numerous sports I played whilst living in America, I have decided that I will solely be focusing on basketball from now on. However, I won’t be the one playing anymore. I'm finally stepping out of my spotlight. Instead, I’ve stepped up to manage the boys team at Seirin High. While searching for potential schools to attend, I was intrigued based off of the stats I found for their basketball team just last season. The school had just been formed then, and only held one class of students, all the same age. So the team had been so small. Yet, I saw so much potential in them looking over footage of their past games. I’m sure with the incoming generation, the team will be even better this season, and I will aid them in becoming the best in the country before we graduate.

So tunnel-visioned on the thrilling season ahead of me, I don’t even realize that I’ve arrived at the gym. The campus of this school is so nice, seeing as it’s brand new and all. The gym is decently large in front of me. I close my eyes a moment and listen to the sound of sneakers squeaking against the floor, basketballs pounding against the ground and the smell of rubber drifting through the propped open doors.

With one last inhalation, I adjust my bag strap over my shoulder and march inside. As I dip around the corner, I barely fight back a grin at the sight of the intense practice. A scrimmage between the sophomores and freshmen, it appears to be, and the score isn’t tipping too far to either side, yet. Wait, that’s not right. First years and second years. I keep forgetting that they only attend three years of high school over here rather than four. At sixteen, I’d technically be a sophomore in America. In Japan, I’m in my first year. Sweat drips from warm flesh and patters on the polished floor as the boys pant to keep up with their opponents. The summer heat in Tokyo I have discovered to be quite ruthless.

A whistle pierces the air, and I turn my attention to the individual who blew it. A rather small, sophomore-... I mean second year girl in the school uniform. It is three p.m. on a Thursday, I suppose; they must’ve just finished their school day less than an hour ago. Her very short brown hair is clipped to the side to keep it out of her big hazel eyes. She begins to yell at a pair of boys on the underclassman team who have begun to squabble with one another.

More so, the 6’3 burgundy-redhead with a short temper snagged the penny collar of a small-framed bluette with eyes to match and began barking at him. The bluette doesn’t do much to fight it, ragdolling as the larger kid shakes him back and forth. The girl breaks it up.

I recognize her as Aida Riko, the coach of Seirin’s basketball team. Back in America, when I saw that there was a female student in Japan coaching a high school boy’s basketball team, I was immediately impressed. It was unheard of in America, and I respected her right away for stepping up to the job. Therefore, I instantly researched her and her background as a coach.

Turns out she’s the daughter of a previous member of Tokyo’s national team. Her father has since retired and opened a training gym, where he personally trains professional athletes to reach their fullest potential while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. To put it simply, Riko has been by his side since a very young age, and naturally, has soaked the entire lifestyle in and adapted to it. She’s a prodigee when it comes to physical training and coaching; proof being that she led the Seirin team to several victories their first ever season last year.

All that information is fact; however, I haven’t gotten into the mysteries I dug up about her. People say that she can calculate any individual’s potential and muscle/water/fat statistics into numbers and digits just by looking over them. I’m highly intrigued by this set of information and would like to confirm it for myself. If true, then this girl is the only person I would accept to be the coach of the team I’m going to manage.

“Excuse me? May I help you, miss…?”

Blinking, I barely comprehend that Riko has noticed me by now, after the scrimmage has resumed. She stands before me, clipboard in hand and pink whistle dangling from a string around her neck. I mentally curse my lack of experience with social confrontation. I have been taught manners; I must be refined and polite. I must not speak unless I am first spoken to. I must answer every question with caution and I must give the most competent and eloquent answer possible. 

But I am no longer living a life where I meet people who expect me to be so pristine, am I? Do I have to greet them with formalities and a fake smile? My mother would tell me to keep a stoic expression; don't give away what it is that I am first thinking about the person before me. Fuck this. I'm too shy and unconfrontational when I first meet someone. What the hell do I do?

“Oh! My apologies,” I bow my head slightly, keeping a stern face about me. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your practice, but I just arrived in Tokyo this morning and had to come visit the school and team for myself. I’m [Last Name][Name], your new manager.”

Eternally damn my lack of personality when I greet someone for the first time. I hope she doesn't think that I'm some sort of robot for being so emotionally unavailable. I was conditioned to be, after all. 

Riko’s eyes widen and she nearly drops her clipboard as I hold out my hand to her. She takes it and vigorously shakes it. “Oh my, it’s such an honor to have you, Ms. [Last Name]! I didn’t expect you to arrive until the weekend! I’m so so sorry for not recognizing you!”

I smile smalley, desperate to abandon old habits. “No need to apologize. We haven’t met until now, after all.”

“Yes, but you’re rather famous in the basketball community, Ms. [Last Name]! It should be hard to forget your face.”

Lightly, I bite the inside of my cheek, casting my gaze to the left for a moment before looking her in the eye once more. “Oh, please. I’m nothing compared to what I’m described to be in those articles. Also, please, call me [Name]. I hate being too formal. It makes me feel distant from everyone else around me, you know?”

“Of course, [Name]-san. I’m Aida Riko, the coach, but feel free to call me Riko. Aida-san sounds too much like my father,” she nods, beaming at me before gesturing to the scrimmage behind her. “Please, come meet the rest of the team.”

With a small huff, I shake my bag off of my shoulders and set it on a bench on the side of the court. Then, without any hesitation, I join Riko’s side by the court, where she whistles her team over. Huffing and panting, they jog over and stand in a horizontal line before her, silent sans their wheezing.

“Everyone, I’m pleased to introduce to you all our new manager this year,” she announces, gesturing to me. In an instant, every pair of eyes in the gym drifts toward me and linger there, taking my full appearance in for the first time. “This is [Last Name][Name]!” -”please call me by my first”- “She’s come all the way from America to enroll at Seirin, and has offered to manage this team.”

“You never told us we were getting a manager this year,” one of them huffs. Glasses, dark brown hair, 5 '10, murky green eyes, second year, 150 pounds….. I identify him to be the captain and shooting guard for Seirin, Hyuga Junpei. “We’ve never needed one before. Why now?”

Riko punches him in the shoulder to shut him up. “I think what you meant to say is that we’re honored to have [Name]-san with us! After all, she’s rather famous in the basketball community! She’s been playing on a national level in the U.S. for years!”

The whole team then gapes at me after hearing that information. I let out a huff through my nose as I fold my arms, glancing away timidly. “It’s really no big deal….”

“So, you play ball, then?” I look up at the same first year from before. Dark red hair, burgundy eyes, furrowed brows, 6 '3, 181 pounds…. I don’t have any information on this player, but he has an undeniable presence about him.

“Not anymore,” I give him a soft and forced smile.

“Hm. If you’re so famous, you can’t turn down a simple one-on-one, can you? It would make you look incompetent,” he palms a basketball and holds it towards me. “I’ll be the one to assess whether or not you're worthy enough to be the manager of this team."

“Kagami-kun! You idiot, you can’t just ask her that! She’s not properly dressed-...”

“Please, Coach Riko. There’s no need,” I smile a small, but genuine smile as I take the ball from this Kagami with both hands and place it between my knees, where I clutch it carefully as I double over and tie back my [H/L] hair into the style of my choosing. “I accept. He and everyone else on this team has every right to know what their new manager is capable of.”

I join Kagami at the center of the court, the ball resting against my hip and held in the crook of my right arm. I toss it to him, implying he’ll be checking to me. He arches a brow, but doesn’t argue, nonetheless, “first to three wins.”

All I do is nod and lower into my athletic stance. All eyes are on Kagami and me in the center of the court, Riko’s noticeably scrutinizing my form. I’m sure she’s analyzing it and comparing it to other famous forms in the sport. I wonder if she's able to infer any of the players I have taken inspiration from just by observing my movements. Kagami checks me the ball, and I don’t hesitate to check it back.

Just as the ball lands in his palms, he moves to cross over me immediately. He fakes his right and I predict he intends to dip to the left instead. So I immediately dip my shoulder to my right and pivot on my right heel. He does just as I predicted, crossing the ball over to his left hand. As I make my turn, which he hasn’t even had the chance to react to yet, I throw my right arm out and weave it under his left arm. My fingers hook around the basketball before it can reach his left palm and I scoop it out from under him and complete my spin. 

With the ball in my possession, I dribble it a total of three steps and change my stance into a shooting form. Kagami just now processes my speed and twists around on his heel, diving towards me as I bend my knees and raise the ball just above my head, elbows bent at perfect angles for the trajectory of a shot at this distance.

I hear someone from the sidelines yelp in disbelief, “she’s shooting a three!?”

“She's got to be three meters out from the three-point line!”

Ignoring them, I furrow my brow and concentrate. However, I don’t go for the shot just yet. Kagami is a tad faster than I anticipated him to be based on his size. Licking my lip, I shuffle back a hop as Kagami dives in front of me, already off balance and stumbling to his left, my right. I take this opportunity and dip my shoulder to the right, pulling the ball towards my body as I spin around his right side, towards my left. He reads this and immediately shifts his body weight to match me, but I also predicted he might think of doing that. Therefore, as he reaches, arm outstretched for the ball, I cross over to the right, completely shaking his equilibrium. His ankles give out and he falls heavily against the floor. I calmly bend my knees and jump, letting the ball fly at the climax of it and landing softly against the floorboards, waiting until the ball makes the net.

And it does; nothing but net. It slips through the rim and thuds heavily against the wood floor, bouncing as it rolls away. And that’s the only sound that can be heard within the gym for a moment. Brushing some hair out of my face, I turn to face Kagami on the ground and offer him my hand. He stares up at me in complete and utter shock, unsure of what to do or say.

My face remains stoic, hand hovering before me. “Well? Am I worthy, Mr. Kagami?”

He blinks, snapping out of his stupor as his giant hand completely engulfs my smaller one. “H-How’d you… ?”

I help him up. “A lot of practice.”

I can’t help but crack a cheeky grin as I yank the heavy first year up to his feet. “I have to say, I am impressed. You caught onto my movements a lot quicker than most. You’ve got a lot of potential. I’ve done my research on all the upperclassmen here, but I don't recognize you at all. You must be new this year… What’s your name and position?”

His pride forces him to shake off his disbelief and he glares at me, pretending that the one-on-one never happened in the first place as he crosses his arms. “Kagami Taiga. First year and power forward.”

I look him over, taking a sweeping glance of his body and the amount of strength and elasticity he contains in each of his impressive muscles. My eyes linger around his legs, hyper focusing on his knees, which he catches on to quickly. He’s about to retort when I open my mouth and ask, “how high can you jump, Mr. Kagami?”

“W-Wha…? I-I dunno… Why would you even-...” he points at me. “Don’t call me Mr. Kagami! You’re American, call me by my first! It’s Taiga!”

Ignoring him, I study his tendons a second further. “Your ability to jump must be extraordinary. I’ll mentally note that to consider later on. Thank you, Taiga. It was a good effort, and I look forward to sculpting you into a professional player.”

With that being said, I turn my back to him, leaving him fuming. I approach the rest of the team, and Riko is the first to trot over to me, completely dazed from what she had just witnessed. She begins grabbing my limbs and assessing each one. I narrow my eyes at her, and I swear I can see numbers dancing along her pupils as she studies me.

“[Name]-san! Your stats are completely off the charts! H-How…?”

I shrug. “As I said before, I was constantly practicing. Though, I don’t really do that anymore. I’ve decided the consequences that came with sports in America weren’t worth it anymore. That’s why I flew out here. To get away from it all.”

“All the what, exactly?”

“All the lack of teamwork,” I roll my eyes at even the thought of it. “In America, it’s always rely on yourself and no one else. It's always one person who must shoulder all the blame or all the glory. And that’s why internationally, most of our national teams don’t do well, save the few that can work together. the USA men's basketball team is admittedly successful, but I wouldn't say it's because any of them work together, so-to-say. All we know how to do in America is play as an individual, and not as one team. And that’s why I left. I want to be a part of something better; a family of players who all bond over their love and passion for a sport. And I see that bond between you all, whether you know it yet or not.”

Riko soaks in every word of my little tangent, determination seeping from her every pore with every syllable that escapes my lips. She punches the air, tears threatening to prick her eyes as she faces her team. “Does that not excite you!? The amount of potential we have this year is out of this world! Our first practice match against Kaijo is just two weeks away, and we’re gonna crush them!”

“Yeah!” all the Seirin boys chime in, more enthusiastic than I’d expect them to be.

“Now…” Riko takes a deep breath, grinning at me with a newly found determination. “Introductions are in order. [Name]-san, welcome to the Seirin basketball club. We welcome you. You can start with our second years-...”

“I already know all of the upperclassmen…” I state bluntly, a finger on my chin. “I’ve researched this team from all it was last year. Hyuga Junpei, captain and shooting guard; exceptional three-pointers. Izuki Shun, vice-captain and point-guard; I’m well aware of that eye of yours, and I’m very intrigued by it. Mitobe Rinnosuke, the center; outstanding hookshot and there’s no need for words in order to get your point across. Koganei Shinji, a small forward; more of a jack of all trades than anything specific. And last but not least, Tsuchida Satoshi, the power forward; rebound extraordinaire. I believe that’s all the second years present, correct?”

I receive a couple of strange glances, but that can be expected, seeing as I just confessed to them that I’ve researched their player histories online. I note they are short of one member from last year, but I deem in unimportant to mention. Nevertheless, they shake off my scarily accurate yet simple information and admit to themselves that I am the manager, and it’s my job to do the team’s homework by studying other schools and coming up with improved plays and strategies. Riko nods, afraid to ask me what I know about her. “Y-Yeah, that should do it. Feel free to acquaint yourself with the first years. Oi! Get in a line and tell her your name and position!”

They do as their coach tells them and form a line before me. The first boy seems a bit skittish as he bows before me. “H-Hi! I’m Fukuda Hiroshi! A first year and center.”

I nod, taking his hand and shaking it before looking over his forearm and shoulder muscles, analyzing them. “Nice to meet you. I can tell you’re a very cautious player. Don’t be afraid to take a couple more risks, Mr. Fukuda.”

He scurries off to join the upperclassmen, joining into their conversation of low whispers. The next guy steps forward with a kind smile and shakes my hand, his head completely buzzed. “Hi there, [Name]-san. My name’s Kawohara Koichi, and I’m a first year small forward.”

As I look him over, I bite my lip when I find no special readings on him. So I come up with something I can infer on the spot after hearing him talk. “You’ve got good team spirit, Mr. Kawohara. I look forward to working with you.”

After he insists that I call him Koichi rather than his surname, he moves along and I face the next first year, who’s rather stiff and uptight as he bows before me and shakes my hand in a jerky fashion. “Furihata Koki. Point guard and first year.”

No radiating talent from this one either. I try to give him a bit of advice that doesn't necessarily have to pertain to basketball, depending on the context. “Loosen up, Mr. Furihata. There’s no need to be so tense. I understand you want to prove your worth, but there’s no point in doing that if you aren’t enjoying yourself.”

I crane my neck back a bit to look up at the stoic Kagami Taiga once more. I nod at him, and he simply nods back, agreeing that we’ve already greeted and see no need in doing so again. So, he instead joins his upperclassmen, who all are continuously taking quick glances in my direction. Then, all at once, they stare at me. I ignore them and turn to the last newbie. He’s barely an inch taller than me, with a small, pale frame, powdery blue hair and blank eyes to match. He looks at me with no expression, and I return the favor.

“I do recognize you,” I say softly, and everyone in the gym hitches their breath in shock. Even the bluette’s eyes widen ever so slightly. “Kuroko Tetsuya, former member of the so-called “Generation of Miracles” at Teiko Academy; the phantom sixth player who excels in passing and misdirection. I have high hopes for you, Mr. Kuroko. I can tell you have the same outlook on teamwork as I do.”

“Yes,” he states simply. “My previous team lacked it.”

“I see,” I nod, gently shaking his hand before beaming at him. “I’m eager to work with you and enhance your skills, Tetsu-kun.”

Eyes widen at the nickname I let slip. I play it off cooly, pretending as if I meant to say it in the first place when in reality, I just thought of it on the spot. I’ve always enjoyed nicknames, but only because I was so strictly forbidden from ever using them. My mother would not be very happy to hear I try to use them as often as possible. However, perhaps now wasn't quite the right time for me to rebel against my familial expectations. Especially now that I’m in Japan, where it’s taken as a sign of disrespect not to use the proper honorifics. Therefore, I await Kuroko’s response anxiously, only to receive no reaction at all. I suppose he doesn’t mind it, then.

As I turn to face the rest of the team once more, they all stare at me in utter shock, jaws falling slack. Kagami’s eye twitches. “H-How did she see him!? I didn’t even realize he was there!”

I arch my brow at this comment, but soon snap my fingers in realization. “Ah! That’s right! The whole lack of presence and all that. Consider me intrigued.”

Hyuga deadpans, mumbling, “That doesn’t explain how it didn’t work on her…”

Riko ignores this and clears her throat. “Now that you've met everyone, shall we continue with our practice, [Name]-san?”

My eyes widen, and I bow apologetically. “Yes, of course! Forgive me for taking so much of your time! Continue practicing as if I weren't even here!”

With that being said, I scurry over to the bench and grab the bag I tossed aside earlier. Riko’s constant instructions become background noise as I take a seat and unzip the black athletic bag at my feet. Reaching inside, I pull out a two-inch wide white binder, a hand-held eraser, and several mechanical pencils. Flipping over to the first blank leaf of notebook paper, I look up and immediately get to work.

I take in every second of the gameplay before me. Every movement, every glance, every word, every opportunity. My eyes flutter around the court, swirling with the constant intake of information. Mental maps of aerial views of the court form in my head, guiding me to formulate strategies and tactics involving several of the players. I scan their statistics, using the information I find to sketch out perfect replicas of their physical image, narrowing out points of strength and what needs to be improved. I comment on all of their individual talents and weaknesses, adding possible moves and trump cards for each player on their designated page, as well.

Coming up with tactics instead of being the one who carries them out is an incredibly new and mind boggling experience for me. I've always found all of the background work done by managers to be so fascinating. Although I do miss being the one who brings the ball down the court, I can't help but thoroughly enjoy doing all the messy work behind the scenes that goes unnoticed. In its own subtle way, I find it natural and riveting.

Riko and a few of the players will steal glances at me every so often, curious as to what I’m up to, but don’t dare interrupt me. Not until practice reaches its conclusion and the players are cooling down; only then does the coach approach me. 

“Will any of us be seeing you at school tomorrow, [Name]-san?” she asks, clipboard tucked underneath her elbow.

I slip my note-taking tools and binder back into my bag, not looking at her as I shake my head. “I won’t be attending any classes until Monday. I’m afraid I have too much to attend to tomorrow and over the weekend to dive into my academics just yet. I won’t be able to make it to your practice tomorrow, either. I do apologize.”

“It’s no problem at all, really,” she smiles. “I didn’t even expect you to arrive until Monday, in the first place. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to having you as a part of this team. I hope you can find a family among us.”

For some odd reason, her phrasing strikes a cord in my heart. "Y-Yeah. Me too."

“Well, I’ll see you on Monday, then. Bye, [Name]-san,” she waves before moving to gather her own things.

“See you then,” I agree, barely loud enough for her to catch. Huffing, I throw my bag over my shoulder and turn towards the exit. Fuck, that whole ordeal was so embarrassing. Why do I have to be so socially awkward? I must've sounded like a child who's been deprived of human contact for her entire life. Well... In a way, I guess I was. After reaching a certain stage in life, I didn't talk to anyone my age for a couple of years. Not until freshman year of high school did I come in contact with my own kind since halfway through elementary. And even then I really struggled. All I can do is hope that I miraculously learn how to behave like a normal teenager; perhaps I can learn a thing or two from this team of boys. Though, that would require that I warm up to them, first. 

Just as I’m about to leave, I glance over my shoulder back at them all, completely worn out for the day. My brow furrows in determination as I recognize this team's overwhelming potential, and I can’t help but allow a smile to befall my lips. With a newly found motivation flooding my veins, I leave with a feeling I haven’t felt in a very long time. Too oblivious to notice every single pair of eyes on me as I leave, whispering among themselves about their new manager’s appearance and undeniable skill.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday morning I groggily amble to Seirin High, North Face backpack over my shoulders and black basketball bag lazily held in hand. Seven in the morning is much too early to be awake, not accounting for how much earlier I had to get up in order to get ready and take into account the total time it would take for me to walk to campus from my apartment. I think I'm going to invest in a cute little bike.

Once I arrive, I first head to the gym and stop by the basketball team locker room. It’s empty when I step inside, most likely too early for anyone else to be here. Though, I scratch that probability at the sight of a couple bags already in their lockers. I make my way to the nearest one that’s unaccounted for and toss my black athletic bag inside. With a soft yawn, I then shut it and head back out.

Students are beginning to file into the building at this point, still twenty minutes until the first bell rings for homeroom. I pull open one of the entrance doors and head inside, weaving through all the people crowded in the shoe locker hall. I sift through my memories for the location of the main offices, for that’s where I needed to go in order to collect my timetable. As I’m wracking my brain, however, I lose focus of my environment and slam into someone much taller than I am, sending me flying onto my backside.

“Oi!” the person exclaims in surprise, a large hand coming into my vision. “Watch where you’re going!”

“I-I’m sorry,” I mutter in a bashful tone, accepting the help gratefully.

Kagami pulls me up with a strong tug, eyes widening as I hastily begin brushing off my skirt of any dust it may have collected. “I-It’s you…”

I give him a tired smile and head-bow. “Good morning, Taiga.”

“What are you doing here?” he hisses, stuffing his hands in his uniform pockets.

“Going to school, of course,” I chortle at the stupid question. “Ah, that reminds me. Do you happen to know the way to the academic counselor’s office?”

“Tch, as if I’d-...”

“It’s down the hall to the right.”

“Thank you, Tetsu-kun,” I beam at the bluette standing beside Kagami.

Said boy jumps in surprise. “Moron! When did you get here!?”

“I’ve been walking with you for the past minute or so,” he states nonchalantly.

I can’t help but laugh at the two, brushing past Kuroko and following the directions he’d just given me. “Thanks again, you two. I hope to have some classes together! If not, I’ll see you both at practice.”

“Sure,” Kagami sighs, not bothering to glance at me.

“See you soon,” Kuroko agrees softly.

Twenty minutes later, I navigate my way through the halls alone, timetable in hand. This school is so big,-- it’s going to take some time and getting used to. I’m sure I’ll get lost on more than one occasion. I hope I can find some people to travel with in between periods. Squinting at the schedule I hold, I compare it to the sign on the door in front of me. Yep, this is my homeroom, alright.

Though, I don’t automatically enter. It’s been a couple minutes since the first bell rang, and the kind but busy woman in the office had misplaced my timetable by the time I arrived, so it took more than a little while for her to relocate it. Of course I have a note to bail me out from being late, but I can’t resist the anxiety that begins to spread through my body. I bite my lip and glare at the door. What if I stumble over my Japanese, or the students poke fun at my American heritage and accent? Worse than any of that, what if someone recognizes me?

With a deep breath, I immediately shake off the nerves and pull the door open. At the sudden shift in atmosphere, the entire classroom lay their eyes on me, standing in the doorway. It doesn’t take the teacher long to realize who I am.

“Ah, yes, I nearly forgot! We have a new student joining us today,” he announces jubilantly, beckoning me in. “Please, introduce yourself, Ms. [Last Name].”

Stepping towards the front of the class, I clear my throat. “Hello, everyone. My name’s [Last Name][Name], but please, call me by my first. Oh! And please take care of me.”

Internally victorious, I nearly grin at the fact I didn’t butcher my japanese, there. In fact, I let a smile slip and make no intention to hide it from the class. Might as well be friendly with them all. I am trying to stray away from who I used to be and how I was supposed to act, after all. No one seems to notice the American accent, either. I think I’m getting the hang of it, out here. And to my utter surprise, none of them begin whispering among each other, either, no mean things to say about me. Mostly the boys, of course, sit at their desks with their mouths agape. As long as they don’t stalk me in the halls like the boys back in America did, then I don’t mind. It’s annoying when people try to follow you around just for a chance to stand with you under the spotlight. I tried to tell them that it wasn't as exciting as it was made out to be. But men will be men: arrogant and stubborn.

There’s a sudden noise among the tranquility, however. My gaze flickers to the back of the class in the left-most column by the windows, where Kagami stands from his desk and points at me. “What are you doing in my class!?”

I merely tilt my head in response to his exclamation. “Taiga...?”

A sudden sense of relief overwhelms me at the sight of him. Though we’ve only just met, he’s one of the few people in this school that I’m acquainted with at all. I’m just happy to know someone in my homeroom. I don’t get to share my comfort, though, for the teacher calls him out for disrupting. “Mr. Kagami! Sit down before I write you up for detention!”

Disgruntled, the boy does as he’s told, muttering things unbeknownst to me under his breath. Amused, I hand the late slip to the teacher, and he takes it with a smile and a sigh. “Sorry for that, Ms. [Last Name], and welcome to Seirin. Please, find any seat you’d like and make yourself at home. There’s only five minutes or so left of homeroom, after which you’d then attend your first period. Don’t hesitate to ask me if you have any questions.”

With a nod, I thank him and head towards the back of the class to find an empty seat. Lucky for me, there’s one diagonally behind Kagami, to his right. Setting my bag down, I take my seat and get comfortable. Only then does the class resume chatting with one another, and I can’t help but wonder how many conversations revolve around my arrival. Instead, I drown the talking out and look to my left. Sitting in the seat behind Kagami is another familiar face; one I couldn’t catch before due to Kagami’s sheer chest-width.

“You’re in this homeroom, too, Tetsu-kun?” I smile.

“Yes,” he answers simply.

“I’m glad to have people I know,” I lean over, handing him my timetable. “Do we happen to share any other periods?”

He takes it with grace, skimming through the schedule. “Math, Japanese Literature, English, History, and lunch-...”

“Gimme that,” Kagami, having turned around to face us and join the conversation, snatches the timetable from Kuroko’s grasp. “Same for me, minus math and history. We’re in the same biology class, though.”

My aura radiates genuine happiness as I smile at them. “I’m glad to hear it! I was so worried I wouldn’t have anyone in any of my classes. I’m so excited to be with you guys.”

Kagami rolls his eyes, handing my timetable back to me. “Don’t be so hyper. No one should be excited for school. Besides, we barely even know you, yet.”

“I’m looking forward to getting to know [Last Name]-san,” Kuroko retorts monotonically, causing Kagami to flinch and me to deadpan at the use of my maiden name. So many negative connotations come with that stupid last name I bare. 

“Do you always have to disagree with me, idiot?” he growls, ruffling the bluette’s hair.

“You two are funny,” I giggle softly, gaining both of their attention, staring at me with slightly wide eyes. Huffing, Kagami stubbornly leans away from Kuroko and folds his arms over his chest, muttering something under his breath just before the bell rings. 

Standing, I gather my things and throw my backpack over my shoulders. As I stand upright and turn around, Kuroko is right behind me, watching me. “We have math first period. Would you like to walk together?”

My breath hitches ever so slightly, but I get over myself and smile. “I’d like that very much.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

With a small huff, I tuck some hair behind my ear as I head to the gym after school. Today was honestly the easiest school day of my life. I expected the academics over here in Japan would be a lot heavier than what it was in America. However, back in the states, I was enrolled in several advanced placement classes at a young age and tutored by rigorous experts in nearly every subject imaginable. Compared to that, what I’m taking here is a breeze. So far, at least.

Knock on wood, I suppose.

The boys have already made their way in and out of the locker room before I even arrive, the sound of them practicing reaching my ears before I even make it to the gym. I quickly swap my school bag for my basketball one, which holds all of my new notes and strategies inside. With that in hand, I make my way into the gym. This team’s first practice match is a week from tomorrow, set up against one of the members of the Generation of Miracles I’ve heard so much about. 

Kise Ryouta, one of Kuroko’s former teammates at Teiko academy. To the extent of which I’m aware, he’s remarkable at picking up any skill within seconds after observing it for the first time. He’s appropriately dubbed the copycat, therefore, and can adapt to any style of play. He’ll be hard to beat, for sure. Therefore, I’m eager to go over my plans with Riko and the team today.

“[Name]-san! It’s good to see you again,” Riko greets me as I enter. 

“Afternoon, Coach,” I wave awkwardly. “I’ve brought some film and notes to help us with planning strategies for next week’s practice match against Kaijo. We can go over them, if you’d like.”

“R-Really? So soon…?” she breathes, eyes wide.

“Yeah. I used all the spare time I had over the weekend formulating the best strategies I could in order to beat Kaijo and their miracle, Kise Ryouta.”

Riko stares at me with utter admiration, astonished and amazed by my dedication to this team. “Of course! I’ll have the boys finish this drill and we can head into our advisor’s classroom for film. It is Mr. Kenji’s classroom. We’ll meet you over there?”

“Sure thing,” I nod, heading to the classroom she told me to set up in.

Fifteen minutes later, more or less, the team begins filing into the room. I had already plugged in a flat screen and hooked up my laptop to it, opening up the footage I’ve found of Kaijo’s games from the previous year, along with a few snippets of Kise from his matches with Teiko. Not only that, but I wheel a chalkboard over in order to help me display different plays and strategies to them all throughout the film. As Riko walks in, she gives me the total attention of the team, sitting to the side and looking through my detailed notes in awe.

“Right. Let’s begin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo. I'm new to this. I write a lot in my free time, but fanfics are new. If you think you know me in real life, no you don't :)) Anyway, this is my first time writing anything for an online audience. Please tell me if I make any mistakes. Like that is simply just embarrassing.
> 
> If you're wondering where the Haikyuu!! boys are, I'm trying to write according to a semi-consistent timeline. It's ass and doesn't really work, but it makes sense if you don't think about it too hard. So the volleyball dorks will come around eventually (update: chapter 10, if you're curious). I will be trying my absolute hardest to consistently write an even amount about both shows, so bare with me :)
> 
> Also, sorry again for kind of controlling a lot of factors of your character :( the height thing is just to keep some consistency in the writing, you know? Besides, I kinda have free creative reign over your entire personality, here. I think that your physical appearance should be the least of your concerns, lmao. 
> 
> Long ass end-of-chap note. My bad. Thanks for taking interest in whatever it is I have in store here. I'll try my absolute best not to disappoint :) Please give me tips so I don't embarrass myself too bad.


	2. Kaijo

With a yawn, I stretch my arms over my head and thrust out my chest into the movement, unintentionally drawing attention to myself from a couple of the male students at Kaijo Private High School. I simply roll my eyes and stuff a hand into my letterman jacket pocket, a piece of Seirin spirit wear I acquired over the past week as a gift from the boys. After attending their practices over the past couple of days, I’ve really started getting to know them better, both on and off the court.

Hyuga is kind and accepted me right away and Izuki is always trying to make me laugh. Mitobe’s mute, but a gentle giant, nonetheless. Koganei is always trying to hit on me, but in a joking manner, I can tell; I’ve nicknamed him Koga. Tsuchida’s always smiling and is never afraid to approach me with new ideas. Furihata’s still a bit nervous around me, but not nearly as much as he was when I first met him. Kawahara is a talker, more than anything; I can rely on him to keep the team morale going. Fukuda’s a bit tense at times, but happy to be there overall. Kagami is as stubborn as ever, but he doesn’t seem to mind my presence as much anymore. He hasn’t challenged me to a one-on-one since last week, his pride not allowing him to ask me for any tips on getting better. Kuroko and I… we’ve bonded over vanilla shakes.

I am very thankful to them for being so understanding of my initial awkward phase. I truly had no idea what I was doing and still really don't. However, I can admit I've come a lot further than the point I was before I arrived in Japan. I'm beginning to feel more like a teenager; one who isn't bound by expectation and societal pressure. It's a nice feeling to experience. 

In addition to that, I've discovered that making friends is incredible. Befriending the team was nowhere near easy and definitely still in progress, but I've found the process fun. Talking to them, spending time with them, even going out with them to local spots after practice. I never knew what I was missing out on by avoiding friendships my entire life. Bonding with people is addicting, to say the least. And while I'm a tiny bit nervous to approach people and remain incredibly inexperienced, I am finding myself more determined to try. I definitely feel better about myself when someone approaches me after I express myself in some shape or form. And these boys seem to have taken a liking to me for my personality. Thank god. It would've been incredibly embarrassing and awkward if they hadn't.

Today is the day I’ve been preparing them all for. Although it’s just a scrimmage, this will be the first match that this team plays as a unit; together. I need to ensure that their first game helps them learn to operate as a team. Therefore, the night before, I spent every waking hour coming up with any last minute strategies to use for today. I didn’t come up with anything worth mentioning, but at least I can rest easy knowing that I didn’t look anything over that may have been critical to the victory. Still, even though I’m confident, it doesn’t make up for my constant yawning and the dark circles under my eyes.

“Kagami-kun, the look in your eyes is worse than usual.”

At the sound of Kuroko's remark, I peek over my shoulder at the tall ace. Indeed, his eyes are bloodshot and his face screams his fatigue. 

“Shut up,” he hisses, looking away. “I got a little too excited last night…”

“What are you, a kid going on a field trip?” Kuroko scoffs.

This seems to set the ace off. “What did you just say!?”

As I continue walking, I furrow my brow and smile as they continue to argue, most of it one sided. He was up all last night as well, it seems, but for completely different reasons. Kagami is a very hyperactive player, I've learned; he was most likely too excited to fall asleep last night, knowing that he’d be facing a member of the Generation of Miracles today. Kise Ryouta. Riko tells me that Kagami got himself into a one-on-one with said Miracle just days before I had arrived and had been completely crushed. It pleases me that Kagami responds to defeat with an outlook of determination rather than failure. He’s always striving to be better. I can admire that.

“Hey, guys!”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. None other than Kise Ryouta jogs over to us, waving us over with a carefree smile. He really does look as good as everyone says he does. I suppose I should expect nothing less of a teenage model such as himself. He has perfect golden locks that flow around his head as he runs and narrow amber eyes that any girl in his vicinity can get dangerously lost in. 

He stands at a height of 6’2 and weighs around 170 pounds. Not bad for an ace and power forward. He seems to be a very bubbly personality, smiling wide as he jogs over. A faint glimmer in the sunlight catches my eye. His left ear is pierced, a small silver hoop dangling from his lobe. 

“Kise!” Kagami seethes. Said boy stops momentarily and bows to Riko, showing her respect as the coach. Kagami steps forward. “Kise, you-...”

“I thought I’d come out here and get you guys since the school is so big!” To no avail, however, for Kise merely brushes past him to beam at Kuroko. “Kurokocchi, ever since you turned down my invitation to join us, I’ve been crying into my pillow every night! Not even a girl has turned me down before!”

“What is wrong with him?” Izuki deadpans at Kise’s childlike behavior. “I thought he was just going to show us the way…”

“Is he ignoring me…?” Kagami jeers to no one in particular, and I can’t help but snort at him.

“Who could ever miss your undeniable presence?” I smirk sarcastically.

“Could the both of you please stop being so sarcastic?” Kuroko sighs as Kagami pounces at me, a hand on my head and ruffling up my hair into irritating knots.

Kise smirks slyly, turning to face Kagami, who freezes his sudden torture on me. “I’m interested in facing the guy who’s making Kurokocchi say all these mean things. I’m simply not mature enough to let it slide-... I don’t recognize this beautiful mademoiselle, however…”

All eyes land on me, my face blank of any emotion as I rip Kagami’s hand out of my hair and shove him aside. I suppose it's time to put my developing people-skills to test. Clearing my throat, I hold my hand out to Kise and introduce myself. “[Last Name][Name]. I’m Seirin’s new manager. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He shakes my hand with a firm grip, his palm completely encasing mine. He narrows his eyes at me, and at that moment, I could feel all his innocence radiating off of him at once. He truly means no harm to anyone, does he? “[Last Name][Name]…? Why do I feel like I’ve heard that name before…? In any case, the pleasure is all mine! I’m never one to ignore a beautiful lady such as yourself.”

I deadpan as he then awaits for my response. My smirk is snarky, but subtle. “I don’t have anything for you to sign, if that’s what you’re waiting for, Kise Ryouta.”

The amount of wit dripping from the sentence is enough to knock him over as his eyes widen in utter disbelief. “Kurokocchi and a girl turning me down on the same day!? The world must be ending.”

“No, Kise. We’re just looking forward to beating you,” Kagami says with a shit eating grin.

But Kise isn’t phased as he goes to make his leave, returning the determined smile. “Sorry, but I’m going to crush you with everything I have.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kagami accepts the challenge, watching him jog off.

We reach the gym moments later, Riko and I being the first to enter. Immediately, we deadpan. Half the gym is netted off, straight down the middle. On the right, the majority of the Kaijo team is going on with their daily practice. While on the left, the coach and a few other members set up for the scrimmage.

“We’re only using half a court...?”

“The other’s being used for practice...?”

After sensing the dangerously seething aura radiating from the two of us combined, the boys on the team wisely keep their distance as they fill in behind us. The Kaijo coach, however, a stout man, isn’t as aware of his surroundings. “Oh, you’re here. Welcome. Has your coach not come with you to oversee the game…?”

“Excuse me, sir. That would be me,” Riko’s attempt to conceal her anger towards this man’s lack of manners is near flawless, save her right eyebrow, which constantly twitches. “If I may, why aren’t we using the full court for the game?”

“We’ve only made simple arrangements for today’s game. There won’t be enough to learn from this game to waste time using the full court. Naturally, we’re having the remaining players practice as usual so we don’t waste time. Despite the arrangements, you’ll be playing our regulars. Please don’t let us triple your score.”

With that, he turns without allowing us to even respond. Riko nearly bodychecks him, I’m sure, if Hyuga wasn’t there to clutch her collar and hold her back. I don’t let it phase me, however. Being on the national level of this sport despite my size and gender for this long, I’ve gotten used to the discrimination. It doesn't stop me from fantasizing myself in a situation where I dropkick him from across the gym, however.

“They think we suck,” Kagami bluntly states what everyone is thinking. “They’re treating our game like a sideshow to their practice.”

As I glance over at him, I note that he’s grinning maliciously, excited to show them what he’s capable of, and Kuroko stands beside him, smiling. A bit of the rage that had consumed me from before lifts after seeing their excitement. Suddenly, Kise runs over to us, now in full uniform, and begins to rapidly bow before everyone.

“Why’s he coming back over?” Hyuga groans.

Izuki nods in agreement. “I haven’t felt this pissed in awhile. His coach is an ass.”

“Just listen to what he has to say,” I tell them softly, being the voice of reason.

“I’m so sorry! Seriously, so sorry, but I’ll be on the bench during our game!” he thoroughly apologizes over and over. But then, he leans in towards me, lowering his voice so that only my team and I could hear, as if telling us a secret. “But, if you could give my guys a beating, I’m sure he’ll put me in. Besides, if you can’t even force him to put me in, you shouldn’t go around saying you’ll beat the Generation of Miracles.”

“Hey, Kise. Show the Seirin guys to the locker room.”

Kise does as his coach tells him and points us to the door on the side of the gym. As we head inside, Kuroko glances at the blond. “Please warm up, Kise-kun. You won’t be on the bench for long.”

As the boys get changed in the locker room, I take my place on the visiting bench, pulling my laptop out of my bag and opening a blank document. I begin observing all of Kaijo’s regulars as they warm up on the opposite side of the court, my fingers furiously flying over keys to take down all that I can get before the game begins. I barely even notice Kise approach me with another player at his side.

He wears jersey number four. The captain. I immediately begin looking over his attributes as Kise begins talking to me, though I completely tune him out. 5’10, 146 pounds, a senior -- which is a third year, over here -- , black hair, dark blue eyes. This is Kasamatsu Yukio, the captain and point guard for Kaijo’s basketball team. He’s one of the standout players I’ve researched for his commendable leadership skills on the court and talent as a player. Setting my laptop aside, I stand and brush past Kise in order to shake his hand.

“You must be Kasamatsu Yukio, the captain of this team. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I tell him, ignoring Kise’s retort for ignoring him yet again.

As he shakes my hand, Kasamatsu’s eyes are wide. “I-I wasn’t sure at first, but you’re [Last Name][Name], aren’t you…?”

Kise arches a brow at his captain, eyeing our interlocked hands, which have stopped shaking but haven’t budged. “You know her, Kasamatsucchi?”

“You’re the famous [Last Name] from America that played for the national team and won several championships in a row, aren’t you?” he doesn’t even bother to answer Kise, starving for attention at this point. I can only pray that Kasamatsu is the first person to have recognized who I am in Japan since I arrived. I don't want news getting out of my whereabouts any time soon.

Kise soon gets over his starvation after hearing this information, though. “You played over in America, [Last Name]-san? That’s amazing! You must be incredibly famous!”

“She is,” Kasamatsu agrees, finally letting go of my hand and placing his on his hip. “But she quit out of nowhere and hasn’t been seen since. It was huge in the news of anything basketball related. No one truly knows where you are or what you’re doing. So why would it be here, managing for the basketball team of a school with such little renown?”

All I can do is shrug. “I hated it over there. Although we’d always win, my team never won together. I needed to set myself free and there was nothing I wanted more than to get away from the cameras and spotlight. So I came over here, and decided to spend my retirement managing this team to victories I never got to experience. I am hoping to keep a low profile, though, so if you could keep my whereabouts quiet...”

“That’s amazing!” Kise exclaims excitedly. “I never knew you played basketball yourself, [Last Name]-san! You must be really good! We should play sometime-...”

“Idiot! Focus on the game ahead of you, first!” Kasamatsu smacks Kise over the head, scowling at him. “Don’t be so disrespectful.”

My smile is sweet. “It’s quite alright, Mr. Kasamatsu. I’d be happy to play you guys sometime. But I must agree, I’ll be focusing on my boys’ match against you with my utmost attention today. Only when we win will I consider our match.”

“Ah, yes, that’s right! Our game!” Kise quickly recovers from the lump on the back of his head, grinning at me with determination. “We came over to wish you luck, because you’ll be needing it! I really hope you guys aren’t all just talk, except for Kurokocchi, of course.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Kise,” I wink at him and his captain. “You won’t be warming the bench for long.”

“...[Last Name]-san! That was so cute, the way you winked just now! You’re very pretty when you’re confident! Do it again!”

“SHUT UP, MORON!” Kasamatsu kicks him in the shin this time. “She's not one of your little fan girls. Don’t be so rude!”

“Ow, Kasamatsucchi! Why must you hit me all the time!? Don’t try to hide your blush! You think she’s cute too, don’t you!? Don’t you!? Look at her!”

“SHUT UP, IDIOT! MORON!”

I watch in amusement as the senior drags his junior away, insulting him and hitting him the whole way with a look of frustration and embarrassment enflaming his cheeks. I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding. Random people approaching me without any kind of warning is still a bit nerve-racking for me, it seems. Though, I can proudly agree that I have definitely gotten better in my conversation expertise. 

“What was that all about?” I identify the voice to be Izuki’s.

“They just came over to wish us luck,” I shrug as he leans an elbow against my head. With his height compared to mine, it’s easy enough for him to do. “Good luck out there, Izu-chan.”

He winks, stretching a bit as he goes to join warmups. “You bet, [Nickname]-chan.”

Ten minutes later, the officials call for the game to begin. Our starters are Hyuga, Izuki, Mitobe, Kagami, and Kuroko. Riko and I decided those five would demonstrate the most competent performance during the first quarter. As they move to head out onto the court after a small pep talk from Riko, I grab Kagami’s wrist. Grunting, he cocks a brow down at me, probably having half the mind to yell at me as I yank him down closer to my height.

“Oi! What’re you-...”

“I need you to do something for me,” I tell him in a whisper, so that only he could hear. I nod at the rims of each hoop on either side of the half court, nailed into wood rather than glass. “Seeing as these goals aren’t used for actual games and just practice, they’re cheaper and easier to damage. I need you to gain control of the ball first and to score the first shot with a dunk. Take the rim down with you.”

His eyes widen. “Y-You’re kidding…”

I arch a brow. “Do you not want to play on the full court and show Kise what you’re made of?”

He growls lowly, but not at me. “Right.”

I smirk, smacking his back as he goes to join the team. “Go get ‘em, Taiga.”

I join Riko on the bench as both teams line up for the beginning of the game. By the look in her eye, I can see that she’s noticed it, too. The Kaijo regulars have much higher endurance and overall physical talent than Seirin does. I can sense her slight concern, but she’s not too worried. Neither am I. I rest my chin on my palm, elbow against my thigh as I closely watch the match as the whistle blows.

Kagami loses the jump ball, Kaijo gaining possession thanks to their center and vice-captain, number 8, Kobori Koji, who passes it off to Kasamatsu. The captain begins shouting and formulating plays while dribbling down the court as the point guard, not even noticing as Kuroko sneaks up on him. With one fatal tap, the bluette knocks the ball out of Kasamatsu’s hand and goes dribbling in the opposite direction. 

Reacting quickly, Kasamatsu gets over his shock and charges after him, catching up to Kuroko’s slow pace in no time. He grins as he dives in front of him, ready to steal the ball back in seconds, only for Kuroko to pass the ball behind his back and to Kagami, who sprints past and goes for the dunk I advised him to. He slams into the rim, making the two points with one hand, and hangs from it for a minute. Hopping down, he rips the rim with him, playing it off as an accident as Kaijo stares at him in awe, Kasamatsu speechless.

“Whoa! This thing’s way bigger than I thought it was!” he exclaims simplemindedly, receiving a few deadpans.

Izuki points up at the backboard the rim just snapped off of. “That could’ve been dangerous. Those bolts are rusty. It was only a matter of time before that rim fell off on its own.”

The vice-captain turns to me and winks with a subtle smirk, aware of my plan all along and assists me on it. With a soft grunt, I stand and approach the Kaijo coach, bowing to him apologetically. “I’m sorry we broke your hoop; it seems as if it wasn’t up to par for such a high intensity game.”

Kuroko instantly recognizes my plan, playing it off well with another apologetic bow from the court. “Since we can’t go on like this, is there anyway we could play full court?”

The coach, still dumbfounded by Kagami’s destructive dunk, agrees and yells at his players practicing on the other side of the net to immediately begin setting up. With a smug look in my eye, I victoriously brush by the Kaijo bench, passing Kise with a small smirk. His eyes widen and he smirks right back at me, his eyes following me all the way back to the bench.

“You sly fox, [Last Name][Name].”

“How much do you think a replacement hoop will cost?” Kuroko wonders aloud as Kagami tosses the rim behind the bench.

Said boy blinks. “W-We have to pay for that!?”

I shrug. “You broke it.”

“B-But...y-you told-...”

“Wow, now that’s what you call a beating,” Kise laughs wholeheartedly, stepping out onto the court once it’s finished being prepped. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“You’re finally in,” Kagami announces, hands on his hips.

“You’re way too intense for a model when you’re on,” Hyuga adds with a smirk.

“He’s not just putting on a show,” Kuroko reminds them.

“Amazing…” I arch a brow as Riko mutters to herself. “Seeing him again now, Kise Ryouta really is a monster… ”

______________________________________________________________________________________

As soon as the copycat steps foot onto the court, an onslaught of cheers erupts from the entrance of the gym, where a couple dozen of teenage girls in Kaijo uniform have pulled in to watch Kise play, praying that maybe he could hear their individual voice among all the others. He can’t exactly ignore them with his reputation, smiling and waving at them all handsomely. “Thanks for coming!”

“This happens every time he plays,” Kasamatsu huffs beside Hyuga, hands on his hips as he glares at the model. In the blink of an eye, the captain jumps up and kicks Kise over, scolding him. “Quit waving at them! I’ll hit you!”

“Ow!” Kise yelps, pulling himself up as Kasamatsu leans in to whisper to him. “But you already hit me, Kasamatsucchi!”

“Who the hell is number ten?” he asks, side eyeing Kagami.

“Number ten?” Kise breathes, following his gaze. “Oh, that’s Kagami-kun.”

“Kagami?” Kasamatsu repeats the name. “I’ve never heard of him before.”

“Forget about him!” Kise insists with a smile. “The guy who stole the ball from you, number eleven; that’s my teammate from Teiko, Kurokocchi. Isn’t he amazing!? Right? Right?”

Kasamatsu rolls his eyes, shoving his fist into Kise’s abdomen to shut him up. “Why are you so happy? In any case, they gave us quite the greeting. It’d be rude if we didn’t return the favor.”

With the ball starting in Kaijo’s possession, it’s given to Kasamatsu who passes it through Hyuga’s legs. It bounces up directly into Kise’s hands, who takes it down the rest of the court and jumps up for the dunk. His distance from the hoop is exactly how far out Kagami was for the first shot, using the exact same grip with his right hand, copying the move down to the T. [Name] narrows her eyes as the model hangs from the hoop for a second. She was confident that he hit that dunk with just as much force as Kagami had before, if not more. The only reason it didn’t break was because it was bolted into thick glass and not creaky old wood.

Seirin doesn’t take a second to waste, though, immediately working the ball back down the court for another two points. Kise grins at the new challenge he faces, excited for the game ahead. But not nearly as much as Kagami is to completely crush him.

[Name] carefully listens to her team talking amongst themselves as she focuses on the game, clutching her chin in her left palm as she occasionally jots something down on her laptop.

“What is this high paced play…?” Koga trembles in awe as Kuroko makes another one of his amazing misdirecting passes for Kagami to dunk. Kise is quick to retaliate, dunking in return.

“It’s like they’re beating each other without bothering to guard,” Riko notes with wide eyes. “This is what it looks like when two memebers of the Generation of Miracles clash.”

[Name] narrows her eyes as Hyuga passes to Kagami, who goes into an immediate fadeaway. Kawahara gasps. “He’s going into a fadeaway? At that speed?”

“No good.”

The team gasps at [Name]'s grim comment, and watch anxiously as he takes the shot, only for it to be immediately blocked and stolen by Kise. And just as [Name] had expected, Kise takes it down the court and performs the exact same fadeaway. However, with no one to block it, the shot successfully makes the net.

Kuroko predicted this outcome as well, explaining to his captain how Kise’s style of play functions as they regain possession of the ball. “The harder that Kagami-kun plays, the harder Kise-kun plays. At this rate, it’ll take everything we have just to keep up, and it will only get worse.”

‘He’s talking more than usual’ Hyuga thinks mentally, glancing at the bluette jogging beside him. ‘This could be worse than I thought…’

“Seirin, time out!”

The score being 25-22 in Kaijo’s favor, Riko calls a timeout five minutes into the first quarter. She carefully observes the players as they take a spot on the bench, [Name] and the rest of the team moving out of the way in order to give them some space. The coach's eyes narrow. They’re all way too tired after playing for only five minutes. [Name] realizes this too, and she turns to sneak a glance at Kaijo’s bench. She notices Kasamatsu beating on Kise again, for whatever reason, she has no idea.

“A weakness?” Riko questions, and [Name] returns her attention to her own bench, realizing the coach was referring to something Kuroko had said.

“What? You should’ve told us sooner!” Hyuga scolds.

Before he can hit him, Kuroko raises a hand. “Well, I’m not sure if you can even call it a weakness. Essentially, Kise-kun can only copy moves and plays that he himself is capable of doing. For instance, he’s tall enough to reach the hoop; therefore, he can copy Kagami-kun’s dunks. However, he isn’t capable of misdirecting passes like I am, so he can’t copy me. There’s another problem, though. The longer I play, the more the opposing team becomes aware of my presence. My effectiveness is already wearing off.”

“...WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT SOONER!?” Riko erupts, putting the phantom player in a headlock on the Seirin bench.

“I’m sorry! You didn’t ask,” he chokes out in her hold.

“DO YOU NOT SAY ANYTHING UNLESS YOU’RE ASKED!?” she hisses, tightening the grip before letting him go.

“I’ve already considered this, Riko-senpai,” [Name] says from behind the bench, arms crossed. “It doesn’t take a genius to realize that Tetsu-kun can’t keep up his misdirection forever.”

“So… What should we do, [Name]-chan?” Koga asks.

“We slow down Tetsu-kun’s pace. The less misdirection he uses, the more time it will take for Kaijo’s players to grow accustomed to it,” [Name] begins. “Secondly, we need to switch from man-to-man to zone defense instead. Keep solid defense on the inside, and move to stop shots. Kise isn’t the only quick player on this team. Don’t underestimate the regulars, either. However, stopping Kise should still be the number one priority. He’s their ace and number one shooter, after all.”

“Got it.” Hyuga, Kagami, Mitobe and Izuki return to the court, ready to resume play. [Name] turns to look down at Kuroko, tying his shoe on the bench. She grabs the cool towel from off his neck and throws it over her shoulder as he stands. “Don’t let the gap get too big, Tetsu-kun. Think you can do that?”

He nods at her. “I’ll try.”

As the game resumes, Kasamatsu immediately recognizes the changes Seirin made on the court. His brows furrow and he catches [H/C] haired girl in the corner of his eye, pacing along the sideline for a moment before sitting criss-cross on the floor in front of the bench, which was completely taken up by the team. Damn her, he knew it was her doing. He can’t even be mad because he knows how skilled she is. Not to mention…

“Kasamatsucchi!” at the sound of the nickname Kise gave him, he snaps out of his daze just in time to catch a pass. “Stop staring and pay attention to the game.”

With half a mind to hit his ace, Kasamatsu glares at him and shoots the perfect three pointer. “Shut it, moron! I’m not staring at anything.”

“I think you mean anyone,” Izuki teases as he takes the ball. His tone, however, is somewhat threatening. “Stop eyeing up our manager, dipshit.”

Izuki hands the ball off to Kagami, who immediately finds Kuroko. He hurls the ball in the boy’s direction, confident the pass would make it to his palms. To his dismay, it’s intercepted by Kaijo’s number five, Moriyama Yoshitaka, who immediately makes the three.

Wiping some sweat from his brow, he smiles at his captain. “I see. I think I’m getting used to it now.”

“Number eleven’s misdirection?” he asks.

“Yeah,” he nods before wiggling his eyebrows at the senior. “And how hot that Seirin manager is, huh. Wish she had some bigger-...”

Seething, Kasamatsu kicks him in the back. “Watch your tongue!”

“Damn it!” Koga curses from the bench. “The gap keeps getting bigger.”

Izuki passes the ball to Kagami, who takes it in for another two points, only to find Kise already there, waiting for him. He smacks it out of play with ease, denying Kagami of his next basket for Seirin. Kise eyes Kagami, his shoulders rising and falling with each breath. “You’re years away from challenging the Generation of Miracles.”

“What did you say?” Kagami wipes his mouth angrily.

“The gap between our scores might get bigger, but it most definitely won’t be getting any smaller,” Kise smiles innocently, oblivious to the weight of his words. “The difference between your team and ours is just too great. You were the only one who stood a chance against us, but I see now how good you are. I’ll admit you have potential, but you’re still far below me. You can struggle, but you’ll never beat me. The real world isn’t that easy. Kurokocchi and [Last Name]-san are wasting their time on this team.”

There’s a moment of silence on the court, save the soft pants of the tiring players. Only for a moment, however, before Kagami doubles over, howling with laughter. All eyes are on him as he slowly gets over his fit of laughter, waving and apologizing for the sudden outburst. “Sorry, sorry. I’m just so happy. I haven’t heard anyone speak to me like that in so long. I heard it all the time over there.”

“Over there…?” Kise cocks a brow, begging Kagami to reiterate. 

“In America,” he quickly explains.

“You lived in America too!?” Kise’s eyes overflow with admiration and curiosity. “That’s amazing!”

Kagami doesn’t linger on his appraisal, smirking. “Hearing you say all that is encouraging, really. Life is all about challenges. There’s no point in playing if there’s no one strong to play. It’s better if I don’t know if I can win or not. We’re just getting started. Don’t you think it’s a little too soon to be saying you’ve won? Besides, thanks to you, now I know your weakness.”

Kise, genuinely curious, gazes at him. “Oh? Which is?”

“It doesn’t matter how well you are at imitating play styles. There’s one style of basketball I know that’s impossible for you to adopt,” Grinning, Kagami grabs Kuroko by his hair, ruffling it up and grinning. “This guy is your weakness.”

Said bluette deadpans. “What are you doing?”

Kise sighs, hands on his hips as his shoulders slump in slight defeat. “It’s true Kurokocchi’s style is the only one I can’t imitate. But what does that change?”

Kagami’s smile only snakes wider. “We’ll bring you to tears in the second quarter.”

At the end of the first quarter, the score is 35-27, eight points in Kaijo’s favor. [Name] narrows her eyes at the team in blue for a moment before turning to her own. She can hear the Kaijo coach scolding them from where she sits, even though they’re ahead in just the first quarter. She chalks it up as Seirin being the best team they’ve played yet this season.

“Kagami-kun, it looks like you finally cooled down,” Riko recognizes.

He twitches. “What? No, I was always-...”

“You were so pissed,” Hyuga and Izuki deadpan in unison, Kuroko and Mitobe nodding in agreement.

“Still, in the next quarter, Kuroko-kun and Kagami-kun’s coordination will be key,” Riko says.

“We’ll be wo-...” as Kagami is about to say something stupid, Kuroko tazes him by jabbing his fingertips into his ribs. “Oi! You bastard, where did that come from!?”

“You want to beat Kise-kun, don’t you?” he asks rhetorically. 

“Of course I do!” Kagami stubbornly tases Kuroko the same way.

[Name] catches Kuroko as he stumbles back a bit from the hit, patting his shoulder as the officials call the players back to the court to resume play. He nods as a small thanks and runs after his teammates.

“Take care of the counter attack,” [Name] and Riko send them off in unison. The game is back and forth for a while, and nearly a minute in, the gap is ten points wide, Seirin at 29 points and Kaijo at 39. [Name] squints as she watches Kagami take the ball down the court off of a pass from Izuki. Kise is immediately on him, certain that he is going for another drive or maybe even a fadeaway. [Name]'s brow furrows and she stands from the bench, muttering under her breath.

“Now!”

As if he heard her, Kagami passes the ball blindly behind his back, Kise shocked by the unexpected play. He turns to follow the ball, eyes wide as he finds it in Kuroko’s hands. How could he not have noticed him before!? He reaches out to steal from him, only to be too late as he swerves the ball across his back with his right hand, sending it behind Kise for Kagami to snag.

Kise is left actionless by the sudden play, unsure of what to do in his state of shock. ‘He’s coordinating with Kurokocchi!?’ Kagami easily makes the layup, closing in the gap just a small amount more. Pleased, [Name] sits back down, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself as her team celebrates the minor comeback. 

Again, Kagami passes the ball to Kuroko while marking Kise, this time prepared. He dives after Kagami, predicting the ball to come right back to him from Kuroko’s hand. He wasn’t expecting him to pass it anywhere else. And he discovers his prediction to be wrong as Kuroko directs the ball to Hyuga, instead. The captain makes a quick and accurate three, his specialty, and calmly moves back to help defend.

“Number four’s really going for it, huh?” Kobori Koji picks the ball up from the ground.

“We should be more worried about Kagami,” Kasamatsu argues, glaring at the tall redhead. “They only have two options: Pass or shoot. Now that he’s passing rather than going for the points himself, they have opened up many more options, making their offense stronger.”

He steals a quick glance at [Name] on the bench, completely focused on the game before her, eyes darting around the court. He narrows his eyes. ‘Is this what she meant by the style of basketball she strove to play in America…?’ Just before he looks away, he barely catches onto the fact that her eyes are shifting and changing color; from [E/C] to shimmering gold and back again within a millisecond. ‘What is she doi…?’

“You really have changed, Kurokocchi,” Kise states, looking down at the phantom player. “We never played basketball like this at Teiko, but you still can’t stop me. I will be the winner! You’ll lose the game in the second half.”

Kise catches a pass from his team in one hand and moves to drive down the court. Kagami doesn’t even bother to go after him, smirking. “Not so fast.”

“W-What!?” Kise comes to a stop with the ball as Kuroko dives in front of him, marking him.

“Kuroko’s on Kise?” Kasamatsu wonders aloud.

Getting over his shock, Kise smiles. “I never dreamed we’d play like this, Kurokocchi.”

He stares back at him stoically. “Neither did I.”

“I deeply respect you as a player, Kurokocchi, but not even you can stop me!”

He easily crosses over and gets past Kuroko, only to find Kagami standing between him and the hoop, grinning from ear to ear. “You’re wrong. We’re not gonna stop you.”

Riko folds her arms, lips curling up confidently. “We’re taking the ball!”

Before Kise has time to even process what this could mean, the ball flies out of his palm, Kuroko having jabbed at it from where he passed him behind. A back tip. Kise’s eyes widen. Kuroko had purposely let him pass in order to steal the ball. It bounces at a perfect trajectory, reaching Kagami’s waiting hands. He doesn’t hold it for long, however, tossing it to Izuki and trusting him to take it down the court. He fakes a drive and leaves it for Hyuga, who takes his three with ease.

The ball ends up in Kise’s hands once more at half court, where he dribbles as he once again faces Kuroko. “I just won’t run by you, then. No one said I couldn’t shoot a three pointer.”

Kuroko’s eyes widen as Kise inherits Hyuga’s shooting form after watching it once. At the pinnacle of his jump he releases the ball. A sudden weight crushes down on Kuroko’s head, and he looks up to see Kagami using him as leverage to reach a height high enough to intercept Kise’s shot. He grips Kuroko’s head tightly as he smacks the ball out of midair. The bluette gives him an irritated look as he lands back on his feet, but the stubborn ace doesn’t notice as he rushes past Kise to grab the ball.

In response to the quick play, Kise whirls around to streak after him, throwing his arms out in the sudden movement. He didn’t expect to feel contact with something hard and sweaty. Eyes wide, he glances back around only to see Kuroko sailing towards the floor; he’d accidentally smacked him in the dome, very, very hard. He collides harshly with the floor, and the referee blows his whistle to call for a stop in play.

Kise watches in utter horror as Kuroko shakily pushes himself back up, blood trickling from his scalp. Hyuga runs over to his teammate. “Kuroko! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he sways softly, one eye squinted shut. “The game is just getting started.”

He barely even manages to utter the last word to that sentence before falling over, feinting due to the blow to his head. [Name] is first to run out to him, grunting softly as she rolls him over to find him unconscious. She calls Tsuchida over to help carry him off the court while Riko immediately assigns Koga to go in for Kuroko’s stead.

“What’re we going to do without him?” Kagami grumbles. “He’s Kise’s only weakness.”

“It’ll be fine,” Hyuga affirms.

“But-...”

“I said it will be fine,” Hyuga repeats, a dangerous aura radiating from his annoyed smile. “Listen to your upperclassman for once, or I’ll kill you.”

As they head back out onto the court, the captain can be heard muttering under his breath about ‘underclassmen’ and ‘respect for their upperclassmen’. Kagami doesn’t dare talk back to him again, but Izuki is amused by his teammate’s frustration. “Your showing your true colors, Captain. Ah, don’t worry about him. He’s always like that during clutch time.”

And clutch they do. By the time the fourth quarter comes around, the score is 68-74 after just a minute in. Seirin’s behind by only six points. [Name] watches the upperclassmen, plus Kagami, struggling to hang onto this game. She sits beside the bench on the floor, criss-cross and an elbow propped up against her thigh so that she can lean her cheek into her left fist. Just behind her lay Kuroko on a mat, where she had wrapped up his head earlier. Only now does he begin to stir, and she gazes at him as he sits up.

“Good morning,” he blinks at her, and she can’t help but internally admit how adorable he can be. He then moves to stand. “I’ll be going, then.”

“Hey!” Riko jumps in between him and the court he hobbles towards. “What do you mean!?”

“If I can change anything by going out there, then please, don’t stand in my way,” he tells her in his soft and unintimidating tone. “Besides, I promised Kagami-kun I’d be his shadow, and I can’t do that on the bench.”

Riko looks to [Name] for help, but she only shrugs. “I haven't found any indicators of a concussion and there’s only eight minutes left. I say fuck it. Put him in.”

Kuroko glances at her with a small and thankful nod. She returns it, watching as he high fives Koga on his way out, trading his place. Kagami waits for him to join him on the court, his body screaming determination. He nods. “Let’s go.”

The bluette returns the favor. “Right.”

And before they even know it, under five minutes left, they’ve tied the game at 82 points each. No one on Kaijo can believe it, both on and off the court. Everyone save Kise. Though surprised, he can’t suppress his smile. It doesn’t take long for Kasamatsu to recognize the behavior of his ace, and he chucks the ball down the court, calling his name.

Kise catches the ball with ease, dribbling past Kuroko. As he did before, Kuroko moves to back tip it out of Kise’s possession. Remembering this from before, however, Kise corrects his former mistake by crossing the ball over his body before Kuroko can reach it. He ducks past Kagami and slams it through the bucket, giving Kaijo the lead once more.

“This is just like the first quarter,” [Name] speaks her thoughts aloud as she eyes Kise, landing on his feet and returning to the opposite side of the court. “A run and gun game where each team scores back and forth. All we can do is keep up until the final deciding moment of who will score the last basket.”

“Hurry back and defend!” Hyuga leads his team.

Riko’s calling out orders from the sidelines. “Hyuga-kun, pick up the pace! Mitobe-kun, post up! Kagami-kun, tie it back up!”

“We’re tied again,” Kasamatsu seethes, eyeing the scoreboard with ball in hand. 98-98 with two minutes to go. “These resilient bastards. Let’s finish them!”

The captain marks the captain, but Hyuga curses himself as he reads Kasamatsu’s fake wrong. He was sure that he was going for a drive, almost falling over in defeat as he instead posts up for a three pointer. Fortunately, Kagami is there to cover him from behind, blocking the shot, much to Kasamatsu’s dismay. Hyuga catches the ball as it falls from the air, turning to see Kuroko and Kagami streaking down the court. He winds up and chucks it towards them with all his strength, the ball finding Kagami’s hand.

“Don’t let them through!” Kasamatsu orders.

And Kise is there to respond, shielding them from the basket to the best of his ability. Kagami calls Kuroko’s name before passing it to him and ducking behind Kise. The blond furrows his brow as he assesses the situation. ‘Kurokocchi can’t shoot. And with only the two of them down here, his only option is to pass back to Kagami. I won’t let him!’ Having made up his mind, Kise abandons the ball and marks Kagami instead, ensuring there is no way Kuroko can pass the ball back to him.

To his shock, Kuroko lines up for what looks to be a shot. He jumps up and tosses the ball towards the backboard, but it’s quite clear to everyone in the gym he hadn’t aimed for the hoop.

“No...it’s not a shot…” Kasamatsu breathes. “It’s an alley-oop!”

Kagami jumps up and snatches the ball midair, redirecting it into the basket with a dunk. Kise moves to block him, jumping up to deflect the shot. However, even after jumping second, he reaches the pinnacle of his jump before Kagami does. His eyes widen. ‘W-What? He’s still climbing…? How far will he go!? We jumped at the same time, yet, I’m falling first! How is this possible!? How can he stay in the air for so long!?’

“This ends now!” Kagami exclaims, slamming the ball through the rim seconds before the buzzer indicates the end of the fourth quarter, the final score 100-98 in Seirin’s favor. The entire gym is silent, utter shock and tension swelling through the room. That is until Kagami whoops in victory. “All right!”

As if on cue, the rest of the Seirin team, save [Name], leap from the bench and join their teammates on the court, bowing to the Kaijo team in favor of good sportsmanship. Kise, however, can’t get over himself. For the first time in his entire life, he lost a game of basketball. He gasps as tears prick his eyes, and he immediately moves to brush them away in embarrassment. They don’t go unnoticed, however.

“It’s just a practice match, idiot!” Kasamatsu bounds over to him, swiftly kicking him over with a smirk. “Stop crying. You’ve got some balls to say you’ve never lost before. I’ll hit you! You’d better add the word ‘revenge’ to that empty vocabulary of yours!”

The players all shake hands with smiles on their faces, regardless of their loss and the horrifying aura radiating from their coach on the bench. As Kasamatsu turns from shaking Hyuga’s hand as the two captains, he bumps into someone he couldn’t see at first. His eyes widen as he finds [Name] looking up at him with an even smile. She offers him her hand, which he shakes gently.

“I’m very impressed by your skill on the court, Mr. Kasamatsu,” she tells him honestly. “I must admit, I envy your natural talent as a leader. You played very well today. I hope we can play together sometime. I’d love to face you one-on-one.”

Kasamatsu is at a loss for words towards her modesty and kindness towards him and the rest of his team. With her level of fame and skill in basketball, he expected her to be a bit more conceited, but she remains humble. He blinks, shaking off the nerve. “Yeah, I would like that, [Last Name]-san.”

She covers her nose as she snorts softly and Kasamatsu bites his lip. He can barely muster up the courage to stand in front of a girl without fainting; especially a girl like the one before him now. Therefore, he took pride in making [Name] laugh, seeing as he wasn’t the most well known for his sense of humor. And she’s not just any girl, either; she’s one he happens to respect, both inside and out. Her laugh is cute. “Oh, please, Mr. Kasamatsu. Call me [Name]. I don’t like being formal.”

He can’t help but smirk. “Then stop calling me mister. Come, your team is packing up. I’ll walk you out.”

[Name] once again mentally curses her habit of referring to everyone with such formality, the practice having been ingrained into her mind by her mother. She quickly agrees to drop the mister. 

Kasamatsu follows through with the promise and walks her out the gym politely, giving her a small wave as she runs off to join her team with a faint smile and the slightest wave back. A tension he was completely unaware of melts from his shoulders as he watches her go, washed over with relief to no longer be in her presence. Kasamatsu isn’t prepared for someone to lean over and whisper in his ear, however, causing him to jump in surprise.

“You’re chatting up the pretty Seirin manager and you didn’t even introduce me?” Kasamatsu identifies the voice as Moriyama’s. “Traitor.”

With one swift movement, he spins on his heel and lands a punch on the boy’s jaw, brows furrowed in fury and embarrassment. “Shut up!”

“Hey, where’s Kise-kun…?” Moriyama grunts softly as he rubs his side, and Kasamatsu looks up, also noticing the blond isn’t anywhere in sight. He sighs, shoulders slumped in defeat.

“That moron…”

Kise was on the other side of the gym, standing outside the outdoor bathrooms and dousing his head under the cool showerhead, distancing himself from his team to clear his head for a while and wash away any remaining tears. However, he hears a couple steps approach him and immediately turns the water off to face them. His eyes widen, damp locks clinging to his skin and forehead.

“Midorimacchi…?” he breathes, barely believing his eyes. “You came to watch?”

“Watch you fail miserably against such a weak team,” Midorima Shintaro stands before his former teammate from the Generation of Miracles, his mop of green hair perfectly combed over his forehead and glasses gleaming in the clear sunlight, his swampy eyes blank of emotion. “Either way, it was an unfortunate game. Getting the ball in from up close is easy. Getting it in from far away will always have true value. Optimal effort will make you worthy of fate’s grace.”

Kise can’t suppress his smile at the words of his old friend, who smirks back at him as he tosses him a towel to dry off with. “Thanks. What’s today’s item?”

Midorima displays the object in his left palm. “A toy frog. Don’t joke about my items. They are the sole reason I can never miss a shot.”

The blond dries off his hair, cocking a brow suspiciously. Kise never truly understood Midorima’s obsession over horoscopes and lucky items, but never questioned it, nonetheless. “Shouldn’t you be talking to Kurokocchi instead of me? You always liked him better.”

“There’s no need,” the shooter from Shutoku sighs. “It’s true I respect his style more so than I do yours. But I cannot accept his decision to attend an obscure school like Seirin.”

“Hm…” Kise narrows his eyes at Midorima, smirking as a mischievous mood creeps up on him. He leans in and teases, “Are you sure it’s not because [Last Name][Name] is with him?”

“[Last Name]...?” Midorima thinks back to the final moment of the practice game he managed to run in for. He did indeed notice a foreign and undeniable presence in the room. It didn’t take long for him to find the unfamiliar girl sitting on the Seirin bench, her eyes darting around the court at what seemed to be a million miles per second. Something about her put him off when he first saw her, but he still can’t quite place it, even now. However, he can remember the chill that ran up his spine when he caught her staring at him, even if only for a second. He swore that he could see her eyes change colors while peering into his soul; there’s no doubt in his mind that she recognized who he was. At that moment, Midorima instantly knew her mind was complex and dangerous. But he’d never admit it. “So that’s the name of that manager girl. What about her?”

Kise teases him further, poking his fingers into his side and wiggling his brows. “Don’t you think she’s cute? Huh? Huh?”

The shooter masks his emotion well. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Kise cries out playfully. “Don’t lie to me, Midorimacchi!”

“Shin-chan!” they both turn to watch as one of Midorima’s teammates from Shutoku, Takao Kazunari, bikes up with a trolley hitched to the back, seething and panting like a maniac. “You left me alone in the middle of traffic! Do you know how embarrassing that is!?”

“I just came to watch the game today,” he shrugs, fixing the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “And it’s over. Turn around, Takao. We’re headed home.”

“....YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!”

Kise sighs as he watches them go, yelling at one another the whole way. Rubbing his eye, he runs a hand through his damp hair and turns to go put the towel away. That’s when he sees the Seirin team rounding the corner, heading back towards the street to head back home as well. His eyes don’t take long to fall on Kuroko, that same bandage wrapped around his head. As the bluette messes with it a bit, Kise can see [Name] smack his hand away and scold him. He sees Kuroko’s lips form words, in which [Name] responds to with an eyeroll and they both smile at each other. His heart sinks at the thought of causing his old friend pain.

He’d have to make it up to him.

______________________________________________________________________________________

The Seirin team gathers outside of the nearest hospital to await Kuroko’s diagnosis. Not too long of a wait later, he comes back outside, joined by [Name] and Riko. The latter grins, throwing a thumbs up cheerfully. “No concussion!”

The team sighs in relief, and Kuroko bows his head slightly, though still showing no emotion at all. “Sorry if I made any of you worry.”

Koga grins. “Who cares? We actually won!”

Izuki smiles in agreement. “We should get something to eat on the way home.”

“What do you want?” Hyuga asks him.

“Something cheap,” Koga answers, stretching his arms over his head. “I’m broke.”

“Me too,” Kagami agrees, hands in his pockets.

“I’m hungry, too,” Kuroko admits.

“Hold on,” everyone turns to face their coach, her hands on her hips. “How much does everyone have after transportation costs?”

The mood of the entire team deflates as they realize after paying for the busride home, they won’t even have enough to buy a single meal with. Riko sighs as her boys begin heading home gloomily, only to feel a tap on her shoulder. Confused, she turns to find [Name], pointing at a sign standing outside of a small family restaurant, reading ‘Free Steaks’ in bubbly lettering. Underneath, in smaller font, it explains the challenge: 

‘Super Volume 4 kg steak! Finish in 30 minutes or less and it’s free! Those who fail must pay the price of 10,000 yen!’

Riko grins at the challenge, herding her boys inside and ordering the steak for every last one of them. She herself doesn’t get anything aside from a water. [Name], however, asks for a steak of her own, feeling a bit peckish after a long day. As they’re served their steaks, the entire team can barely withhold themselves from standing up and screaming. The portioning is way too massive! There’s no way any of them can finish within the given time frame. Nonetheless, they dive in and try anyway, thankful for what could potentially be free food.

Just five bites in, however, Kuroko wipes the corners of his mouth delicately with his napkin and announces, “I give up.”

They all deadpan before Hyuga shoves Kuroko’s face into the steak. Kagami, however, grins at the sudden news, as elated as a child on his birthday. “If you’re not gonna eat it, can I have it?”

No one can truly believe their eyes. Kagami has already finished his first serving and is already digging into what’s left of Kuroko’s. Kagami’s appetite at least makes a bit of sense, they suppose. He just played a full game and his sheer size requires a lot of energy to break down into stamina. [Name], however, has no explanation for finishing her steak in ten minutes and offering to help Mitobe with his. The team watches in horror as one-by-one, [Name] and Kagami mow through the entire team’s steaks, [Name] finishing the last bite of Izuki’s with just a minute to spare within the half hour time frame. As they finish, one thought is going through everyone else’s head.

‘These Americans are monsters.’

As the team hangs around to chat, drinking their drinks and waiting on Kagami as he orders another meal, [Name] watches Kuroko get up and head for the exit, despite his lack of presence. With her eyes, she’d never miss him, and certainly didn’t now. Curious as to where he’s going, she sneaks after him, slipping out the door behind him. She didn’t expect Kise to be standing on the other side.

“Kurokocchi! Do you have a minute to talk?” he smiles genuinely, dressed in the gray suit of Kaijo’s school uniform. His eyes then drift over to [Name] over his shoulder, and his smile only grows. “[Name]cchi! Feel free to join us!”

Kuroko glances at her, hardly noticing she had followed him out. She tilts her head in confusion, perplexed by the nickname she’d been given. She doesn’t question it, however, and walks with them down the street. Kise twirls a basketball along his pointer finger as he strolls, smiling. “It’s been a while since we’ve talked like this. How’s your injury?”

“I’m fine,” Kuroko answers simply.

They’re quick to reach a nearby park, and Kise throws his bag on a bench before sitting on the backboard of it, feet placed on the seated area. “I saw Midorimacchi today.”

[Name] blinks. She recalls his presence in the gym. Though he’d been watching from the shadows, she couldn’t have missed his radiating pride. Kuroko groans softly after crossing his arms. “Honestly, I don’t get along with him very well.”

Kise chuckles. “Now that you mention it, you’re right. Hm, but that left hand of his is no joke. Especially on good days for Cancers...”

The girl stays a few steps back behind Kuroko, not wanting to interrupt, but this information confuses her. Of course she knows about Midorima’s ability to shoot with his left, but what does astrology have anything to do with it? Still too shy to interrupt, [Name] remains silent.

“...First you turn me down, then does [Name]cchi, here, and finally, I lose my game against your team. Everything’s going wrong with my life right now,” the model leans into his palm, smiling sadly with a soft voice. He tosses Kuroko the ball. “Why did you suddenly disappear right after the middle school championship game?”

The bluette catches it in his right palm with ease. He sighs. “I’m not sure. It’s true I began to question Teiko’s policies because of the championship game. I felt we lacked something. All we cared about was winning, and win was all we did.”

Kise cocks a brow, amused. “Sports are all about winning. What could possibly be more important?”

This comment saddens Kuroko, and [Name] can sense it, the sound of several teenage boys playing street ball in the park’s outdoor court in the background of the brief silence. “All I know is that I hated basketball at that time. The feel of the ball. The squeak of basketball shoes. The swish of the net. The whole reason I started playing in the first place was because I loved the game. That’s why I was so impressed when I met Kagami-kun. He loves basketball from the bottom of his heart, but still takes it more seriously than anyone I’ve met. And [Name]-san… She’s still involved in basketball for the same reasons I am, I know it, because she loves it, too. That’s why she couldn’t cut it out of her life all together.”

“You don’t play, [Name]cchi?” Kise raises a brow. “Based off of what Kasamatsucchi said about you, I assumed you did.”

She blinks, hardly over the fact that Kuroko had finally switched to calling her by her first name rather than her last; it only took him more than a week. She simply shakes her head. “Not anymore. I simply manage for Seirin, now. That is all.”

Kise closes his eyes. “...I don’t get it. I can say one thing, though: If you think so highly of Kagami-kun because of his attitude towards basketball -- [Name]cchi, too --, some day the two of you will have to part ways. Just like the Generation of Miracles, Kagami-kun’s got unique abilities. For now, however, he’s still an immature challenger. He’s enjoying the thrill of recklessly playing strong opponents. However, some day, he will achieve the level of the Generation of Miracles and grow apart from his team and from you. Tell me, what will you do then, Kurokocchi?”

Kuroko’s brows lower ever so slightly, as if he’s concentrating on finding the right words to answer with. He never locates those words, however, as he gets shoved to the side by Kagami, who used his height and stature to bump into him with his chest. “You bastard. Why’d you disappear like that? The both of you!”

[Name] nimbly dodges his playful swipe at her head, most likely intending on ruffling up her hair. Kise leans against his palm. “Relax. I wanted to talk with Kurokocchi. [Name]cchi simply tagged along, and I happen to enjoy her presence. They can handle themselves, why must you worry so much?”

“Because we’ve been looking all over for them,” he rolls his eyes. “They can’t just run off without telling anyone. It’s immature.”

[Name] rolls her eyes, finding it amusing for Kagami to be the one to accuse anyone of being immature other than himself. However, her ears pick up a second conversation in the distance. A much more one-sided one. Peering over her shoulder, she can see a couple of high school boys walking onto the outdoor court that is currently being played on by other teenage boys.

“Come on, look at this trash! I think you’ve had enough,” one of them snarkily remarks loudly. “Give someone else a turn.”

One of the boys already playing huffs, picking up the ball and holding it. “We were here first. Wait your turn.”

“Our turn?” one of the intruding boys sneers, smirking. “Now, now. Why don’t we settle this with some basketball, yeah?”

Only now have Kagami and Kise picked up on the rude conversation in the back as well, having to put a pause on their trivial bickering. Kagami scoffs. “Who do those thugs think they are?”

Kise glares at them as well, noticing how the rude high school boys would shove the other players over and condescend them every time they scored. They weren’t playing fair basketball; they were harassing these kids, and enjoying themselves while doing it. Watching them made him sick. Eventually, the game becomes total assault, where one boy shoved another to the ground and kicks him in the stomach, verbally and physically putting him down. Kise turns to see how [Name] and Kuroko are reacting to this, only to find that they're not there at all. 

As the bully turns around from kicking the boy, he comes face to face with a basketball, spinning on a pale finger. Kuroko moves his hand slightly to the left, staring emotionlessly at the rude kid, effortlessly continuing to spin the ball on his fingertip. [Name] stands at his side, adopting his stoic nature.

“There’s nothing fair about this,” Kuroko states what should be obvious, the bandage still wrapped around his head as he turns his hand over, the basketball popping up and landing nimbly on the back of his knuckle, where it continues to spin. He then flicks his wrist and the ball falls into [Name]'s hands at his side. “This isn’t basketball. Besides, violence is never the answer.”

[Name] nods her head in agreement, balancing the ball between the crook of her arm and her hip. “This is straight up harassment, kid. Something I don’t stand for.”

Kagami and Kise deadpan, both of their companions being considerably shorter and less physically intimidating compared to the toxic boys towering over them. The latter could now understand the former’s aggravation from before. The two really could wander off without anyone noticing, and it seems they often stumble upon trouble somewhere along the way.

“What the hell are those idiots doing?” Kagami groans.

“Kurokocchi…? [Name]cchi…?” Kise breathes, tremendous concern causing his heart to skip a beat for the two’s safety.

The brunet boy who had kicked the other boy earlier howls with laughter at the two small and weak looking individuals standing before him, obviously amused by their subtle threats. “Fine, then. If the two of you weaklings know so much about basketball, then why don’t we settle it with basketball? We’ll crush you.”

His breath hitches as two much taller individuals amble onto the court, radiating confidence as each place a hand on their friends’ heads, being nearly a foot taller than both of them. Kise smiles with his right palm on [Name]’s head, her soft hair sifting between his fingers as he looms protectively behind his new pal. “Mind if we play, too?”

Kagami, however, takes a more annoyed approach, tightening the grip he has on Kuroko’s head, still injured from the game. He adds enough force to cause a small pain, but doesn’t do any damage. “Why’d you have to go and get involved, bastard?”

The group of rude boys huddle together, now completely intimidated by Kagami’s sheer size and haunting glare. [Name] takes the ball she has and begins dribbling it, gently grabbing Kise’s hand from her head and moving it back to his own side. “The five of you on us four is fine.”

Kagami grins in response to the girl’s confidence. He likes her when she’s cocky. “Bring it on.”

“Who do you think you are, whore?” one of them growls. “Someone as small as you doesn’t belong on the court. You look like you’d break with one fall.”

Her eyes narrow at him, and she forcefully checks him the ball. “Four on Five. Your check. First to ten wins. If we beat you, you walk away and these gentlemen get the court to themselves.”

“And if we win?” he asks, barely having caught the ball.

Another one of them intervenes, smugly walking over to [Name] and snaking an arm around her waist, his hand low on her back. “We’ll still walk away. But she’ll be coming with us.”

As his cool fingers begin to hike up the cloth on the back of her shirt and brush her spine, Kise’s quick to shove him off of her, no longer messing around. He isn’t amused by the smug smirk of the pervert, and even less so by the fact that [Name] hadn’t even retaliated to the sexual harassment. “Hands off, pal.”

The unmannered brunet finds Kise’s overprotective nature very amusing. “What is it, pretty boy? Scared I might steal your girlfriend, is that it? If that’s the case-” he turns back to [Name], licking his lips. “-I can guarantee you, sweetheart, I can make you scream ten times louder than he can.”

Completely enraged, Kise’s face explodes with heat, steaming figuratively out of his ears as he rolls up his sleeves. Kagami is just as furious, also blushing at the extremely sexual comment the kid had just made regarding [Name], his friends snickering and muttering behind him, eyeing up [Name] the whole time. Kuroko doesn’t take too kindly to the words, either, glaring at the set of troubled boys. 

[Name], however, continues to be unphased, holding an arm out before Kagami and Kise as they move in to most likely throw punches at the perverts. This isn't exactly the first time she has been sexualized by a man she's never even met. Her face remains stony as she gazes ahead of her, pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail. “The deal is set. If you win, I’ll go with you, and it’s settled with basketball. Fair and square.”

Kagami and Kise gasp, finding her agreement unacceptable. “[N-Name]cchi! You can’t just let them talk to you like that-...”

“It doesn’t matter, Kise-kun,” she sends a reassuring smile. “You speak as if we’ll lose.”

His eyes widen, and he nods at Kagami, who grumbles and nods in response. [Name] initiates the game, checking back to one of the boys. He moves to pass, but eyes widen in shock as the ball mysteriously disappears from his hands. He’s too slow to have noticed [Name] streak over and tap it with her fingertips, spinning around him and snatching it with her opposite hand along the way. 

Two of the other boys surround her, double teaming her cockily. She addresses the situation, crossing the ball across to her left then back to her right behind her back. She then blindly bounces the ball between the legs of the kid behind her, where she ducks around him and smoothly begins dribbling it once more. She does a simple spin move around the fourth before approaching the flirtatious brunet, acting as their center. He grins cockily at her, but his eye twitches at the shit eating smirk that graces her lips.

She seemingly chucks the ball right at him, a pass straight to his chest. His hands fly up to reach out and grab it, dumbfounded by the stupid play she just made. Just as his fingers are about to curl around it, the ball is swept to his left. [Name] had tossed it at him to give him a false sense of hope only to snatch it right back at the last second due to the backspin she gave it. To rub salt into the wound, she dribbles it through her legs and steps right up to him so that the ball is in reach. A cocky move seeing as she’s nearly a foot shorter. He reaches out once more to grab it only for her to hop back, crossing the ball over to the opposite side and spinning around him, not even bothering to look at the brunet as he falls to his knees, grunting as he hits the pavement and [Name] makes the simple layup with ease.

And all she has to say as she brushes past him is, “that’s two points for us. Your check.”

Kise watches her with wide eyes as she struts back to their side of the court. Kasamatsucchi had really hyped her up before, rambling on and on about how well she played and how she was on the national team in America and all that. However, Kise never imagined [Name]cchi to be this dominant while on the court. She just beat five guys at least twice her height and size in a matter of seconds, let alone without a single ounce of help. Kise turns to see how Kagami and Kurokocchi were reacting to this, only to find them completely unimpressed.

Kagami even scoffs at her. “Being as mad as she was, I expected her to flex a bit harder than that. I’ve seen her do better.”

Kuroko shrugs. “I think the reason she went so easy on them is because of how mad she is; they’re not worth that much of her effort.”

Kise’s mouth hangs open wide at their words, and they cock a brow at him. He gestures towards her in awe. “That was her going easy on them!?”

Kagami and Kuroko simply glance at each other before nodding. [Name] smiles, patting Kise on the shoulder. “You aren’t going around underestimating me, are you, Kise-kun? You still have to follow me up on your offer for that one-on-one, remember?”

At her words, he gets over himself and grins. “You must be really good, [Name]cchi. Much better than I expected. I look forward to playing you sometime, just the two of us.”

Kagami knocks the blond over the head. “Let’s just crush these guys and kick them off the court, yeah? You can mewl at [Name]’s feet after we bust these guys’ asses for talking to her like that.”

Kise immediately begins to retort with a flushed face, but [Name] beats him to it with her mocking tone and playful smirk. “Aww, so you really do care about me, Taiga?”

He scoffs once again, fighting back a blush as he stubbornly looks away. “Shut up! They could take you after we win for all I care.”

“Don’t lie,” Kuroko tases him between the ribs. “Besides, that’s rude.”

“I agree with Tetsu-kun,” [Name] whines playfully. “You’re so mean to me, Taiga.”

“Shut up! Let’s just get this over with,” the fuming red head pushes Kuroko aside for tasing him and moves to take the next check in [Name]’s place, seeing as she’s proved her superiority to the opposing team by now. “Let someone else show off for once, [Name].”

“Fine, fine,” she smiles, putting her hands on her hips. “I’ll be back here if you need me.”

“As if I needed you to beat these chumps,” Kagami smirks as he too steals the check with ease, running and dunking on them for another two points. “Chew on that!”

After that, the four prodigies score the remainder of their six points by working around them in nimble passes, taking their time before scoring each basket in order to play around and destroy the confidence each of the cocky players had before the challenge. The teenage boys who had originally been playing on the court watch with awe as they demolish the rude high school boys in minutes, 11-0. They stand tall over them as they lay on the ground, panting and sweating tirelessly from the match.

And without a word, the group of four prodigies walk away, Kise grabbing his uniform jacket and stretching with a yawn as they go. The sun begins to set as Kagami respectfully grabs a handful of both Kuroko’s and [Name]’s hair, the latter playfully yelping in pain as he scolds them. “What the hell were you two thinking!? Do you possibly think the two of you could’ve won if it had turned into a fight!? Why would you engage!?”

[Name]’s about to come up with some witty remark before Kuroko simply shrugs. “No. They would’ve beaten me up.”

“You bastard-...”

“Look at these guns,” Kuroko interrupts, moving to flex his very small arm.

Kagami deadpans before yelling, “YOU DON’T HAVE ANY!”

He doesn’t notice at first as [Name]’s hand flies to her face, an attempt to conceal her loud snort, in which she miserably fails, bursting out into uncontrollable laughter. Kise smiles as he puts a hand on her shoulder, eyes on Kuroko. “Kurokocchi, you can be amazing sometimes.”

The bluette shrugs, watching [Name] as her knees buckle with laughter due to the one sarcastic remark he had made. “I thought those guys were terrible. I couldn’t let them continue to harass those other guys.”

As [Name] begins to recover from her uncontrollable fit of hysteria, Kise grabs his bag and throws it over his shoulder with a tiny grunt and a smile. “I should get going. I finally got to play with you again, Kurokocchi. Oh, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about my revenge, Kagamicchi! [Name]cchi, would you like me to walk you home?”

Back to her normal self, she politely declines the offer. “Thank you, Kise-kun, but I should join the rest of the team with these two.”

“Alright. It was a pleasure playing with you. Don’t forget about that one-on-one!”

She grins. “Of course. I look forward to it!”

As Kise takes his leave, Kagami tenses, angered by the nickname. “‘Kagamicchi!?”

Kuroko quickly explains. “Kise-kun adds ‘-cchi’ to the names of those he acknowledges and respects. Congratulations, he sees you as one of his equals. I’ve never heard him refer to someone with both their first name plus the nickname, however. You must be special, [Name]-san.”

“I don’t want that!” Kagami exclaims, as stubborn as ever. [Name], however, is very grateful for the explanation, and smiles at Kise as she watches him walk down the street in the opposite direction.

“Don’t lose in the preliminaries!” is the last thing the model calls back before turning out of sight.

Kuroko blinks, turning to face Kagami. “Did you hear any of the conversation I was having with Kise-kun before?”

Kagami relaxes, finally calming down. “About us going our separate ways? Tch, we don’t even get along in the first place. Please, we’d never part ways. Besides, you’ll always stand by the light. That’s your basketball.”

Kuroko blinks at him. “Kagami-kun, you say some deep things, sometimes.”

[Name] giggles at the two. Embarrassed by Kuroko’s comment and her laughter, Kagami blushes and exclaims, “SHUT UP, YOU BASTARD!”

“THERE YOU ARE! SHEESH!” it doesn’t take long for Riko to spot them on their way back, to which she tackles Kuroko and [Name] and puts them both in respective headlocks.

The rest of the team and Kagami aren’t phased by their coach’s actions and continue to walk by, Hyuga yawning, “Let’s go home. I’m tired.”

“K-Kagami-kun… Save me…” Kuroko reaches out in a pleading manner. The tall redhead pauses, looking back at his struggling friends before continuing to walk, unbothered and allowing his friends to suffer Riko’s wrath a little longer.

He shrugs with a sly smirk. “The two of you shouldn’t have wandered off.”

[Name] huffs as Kuroko completely gives in, collapsing on the pavement. “Bastard...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayo. Nothing new. Boring chapter is kind of boring. Kinda just wanted to push out the entire Kaijo practice match into one go. Hope this did you at least a little justice. Again, please call me out on mistakes. That shit is embarrassing to me lmao. 
> 
> Comments are appreciated and often re-read :)


	3. Shinkyo

I sit in my usual desk in Japanese Literature, barely able to keep my eyes open during such a boring lecture. I lean my face into my palm and stare lazily at my computer screen, skimming through some of the notes I’d written down on a document. I can barely even comprehend them due to how tired I am, and the teacher’s drawling voice isn’t exactly helping, either.

Kagami seems to have the right idea. He sits to my left, his shoulders rising and falling in rhythm with his breath, his eyes closed as he leans into his fist. I can’t help but envy his boldness, sometimes. I wouldn’t dare sleep during class, but he doesn’t seem to mind. His eyebrows twitch slightly. I wonder what he’s dreaming about…

As the teacher walks down our row, I shake off a bit of drowsiness and make myself appear more alert, pretending to type down whatever he’s been saying this whole time. Just as he’s walking between Kagami’s and my own desk, the nearly two meter ace surges upward and slams his hand down on the teacher’s bald head, not completely aware of his own action. My eyes widen, and I suppress my laughter well as the teacher stops his lecture, glaring at Kagami from behind his specs.

The redhead blinks, confused as to what he’s doing grabbing his teacher’s head in the middle of class. “Huh…?”

“Don’t you ‘huh’ me,” the teacher grumbles, smacking his hand away with a couple papers. “How dare you sleep so shamelessly in my class? Come to the faculty office after school, Mr. Kagami.”

Kagami’s fully awake now, glowering in my direction due to my snickering. Unintimidated, I muffle my giggles with my hand as the teacher continues lecturing. Kagami shakes his head disapprovingly before peering over his shoulder. As I notice he’s angered even further, I follow his gaze, finding Kuroko to be dozing off quietly in the seat behind him. I can’t help but smile at their relationship. Kagami’s probably mad that Kuroko got away with it while he got in trouble. It’s not the bluette’s fault he lacks such a presence.

“He also didn’t smack the teacher in the head,” I mumble teasingly, receiving a killer glare from the player to my left for accurately reading his mind. I smirk. “Calm down. I’ll send you my notes later. Get some rest. I know you’re both tired from yesterday.”

“Shut up! I’m fine,” he whispers harshly, leaning into his palm once more and closing his eyes.

As the lunch bell rolls around after third period, I stir both Kagami and Kuroko awake and tell them to gather their things. We go to meet up with the rest of the crew that we usually eat lunch with, only to find Riko and the second years awaiting us and the other first years. The basketball coach smiles. “Go buy some bread.”

Kagami deadpans, yawning. “Bread?”

Riko nods. “On the twenty-seventh of every month, the Seirin High cafeteria sells a limited quantity of very special bread. The triple delicacy Iberian pork cutlet sandwich with caviar, foie gras, and truffles! It’s 2800 yen!”

“We’re asking you to get this bread so you can continue building momentum,” Hyuga explains.

“But we’re not the only ones with our eyes on it,” Riko adds smugly. “You’ll find that the lunchroom is always a bit busier than usual on the twenty-seventh.”

With a new challenge at hand, Kagami grins, placing his hands on his hips. “Sounds easy as pie, ma’am.”

“Here,” my eyes widen as Izuki hands me a small envelope with a couple thousand yen inside. I take it. “The second years will pay for this. And even if you fail, we won’t be needing any change.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you-...”

I don’t get to announce my appreciation as Hyuga smiles maniacally. “Instead of paying us back if you fail, you’ll be doing three times as much strength training and footwork.”

Thoroughly threatened by Hyuga’s remark, the first years begin to clutch up behind me. I glance at the currency in my hand, unaffected by this whole ordeal. I don’t even participate in the training aspect of practices. It doesn’t matter if I get this bread or not. However, if I was ever taught anything in America…

It’s to always go for the bread. (ew I'm so sorry for this lmao)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the six first years shuffle into the cafeteria, they all nearly drop dead where they stand at the sight of the absolute pandemonium of a crowd trying to purchase the sandwich Riko had been talking about. It looks more like a moshpit than a lunch line. Not a single student shows any mercy to any other, shoving each other over and trampling them just to buy this bread.

Fukuda gulps, lip trembling. “This-... This is chaos...”

Kagami clenches his fist. “We have to get these sandwiches. Three times the footwork and strength training will kill us.”

“B-But look at all the people in line to buy them…” Furihata shivers.

[Name] nods, folding her arms. “The American football team, sumo and wrestling team, the rugby team’s forwards… Some of them are twice Taiga’s size, if that’s believable.”

“Shut up,” the redhead knocks her on the back of the head, which she responds to with a smug smile. “It doesn’t matter the size! I’m getting that sandwich if it’s the last thing I do!”

With that being said, Kagami takes a fistful of Kawohara’s uniform collar and chucks him into the crowd, standing on his tiptoes to see how far the bald first year could shove his way through. Which isn’t very far until he’s literally thrown from the moshpit and faceplants beside the first years once more.

Furihata deadpans. “You’re so unbelievably useless!”

“Step aside. I’ll make it interesting,” Kagami grins, diving into the chaos himself. His determination inspires a charge, Fukuda, Furihata, and Kawohara all following him into battle, Kuroko at their heels. [Name] doesn’t bother, seeing as she won’t be punished whether she gets a sandwich or not. One by one, each of them are shoved out by the crowd, and one by one, they get back up and try to wriggle their way back in with brute force.

After a couple of them had given up, Kagami doesn’t let up and grabs Fukuda, throwing him on top of the crowd. “We’ve gotta take our chances. Sorry, Fukuda-kun!”

They all gasp and [Name] snickers as Kagami jumps on top of poor Fukuda, crowd surfing him as the people in line begin pushing them towards the front. Eventually, however, the flow of the crowd pushes them back and they both fall to their asses painfully. As they’re all about to give up, Kuroko clears his throat, standing beside [Name].

“Excuse me,” he holds up a sandwich. “I bought one.”

Kagami, enraged, jumps up and begins shaking the bluette. “HOW THE HELL DID YOU-!?”

“The flow of the crowd simply pushed me to the front,” he shrugs. “So I grabbed one of the sandwiches and left some money. I could only grab one, though, before the crowd pushed me back. I think [Name]-san has enough for you guys, though.”

All four of the beaten up and hungry first years slowly turn to follow Kuroko’s finger, pointing at [Name] beside him. Indeed, in her arms, she holds several of the Iberian pork sandwiches, a blank expression on her face. “HOW THE HELL IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!? YOU HAVEN’T EVEN MOVED FROM THAT SPOT!”

“You’re right. I didn’t need to,” she shrugs. “As you guys were diving so helplessly into the mosh, like, ten dudes came over and offered me theirs. That sure was nice of them, huh? I wonder how they knew we needed them....”

“T-They offered-...? You didn’t even-...? D-Dudes…?” Kagami’s brow twitches.

[Name] nods, offering him one. “Yeah. That was so kind of them! I wonder why they’d go through all that trouble just to give them to me?”

The five boys deadpan at the girl’s total oblivious nature as she hands them all a sandwich. ‘She seriously has no clue…’ They’re all thankful, nonetheless, despite the fact that she got them from guys who probably have perverted thoughts about her thanks to her physical appearance and cluelessness. They silently thank their manager for being so attractive, just this once.

They all meet up on the roof, where the second years have been waiting for them to arrive. The first years all offer their sandwiches to the upperclassmen first, who generously deny them and offer them to eat. As they all fawn over the delicious delicacy, [Name] holds a bag out to the second years, full of the leftover sandwiches. Izuki takes it with wide eyes. “H-How did you end up getting so many? I can never get my hands on one in time. Are you sure you don’t want one?”

“Nah, I packed my own lunch, but thank you, Izu-chan. Oh, and a bunch of guys gave them to me in exchange for my snapchat,” the girl shrugs nonchalantly.

The second years deadpan at the girl’s lack of common sense, and Hyuga acts upon it, putting her in a headlock and ruffling her hair as he scolds her, as an overprotective captain and friend should. Riko sighs before taking one of the sandwiches herself and leaning against the railing, smiling at the tranquility in the air as the team simply eats lunch together.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

“We’re back,” Riko calls out as she and I head into the gym, returning late to the practice due to the fact we went to scout our first opponent in the Inter-High tournament, watching them play in their first practice game.

“Coach, are you gonna skip today?” Furihata asks, referring to her peppy step she usually ambles with when we play a tough opponent.

“Like hell I will!” she barks, an ominous aura radiating from her scowl.

“Morons!” Hyuga scolds, rolling his eyes with his hands on his hips. He does lean over to me and lowers his tone so that only I can hear. “She does seem rather unhappy. Are they good?”

I nod as I set my bag down by the bench, stretching out some kinks in my back. “Yeah. You could say that.”

Riko puts her hands on her hips grimly. “We shouldn’t be worrying about Shutoku when our first match isn’t looking good. You can watch the film [Name]-chan took after practice, but we can show you the pictures we took now. [Name]-chan?”

I nod, pulling my phone out of my jacket pocket and opening a folder labeled ‘Shinkyo’. I hand it to Hyuga, and the team gathers around him, gasping as he begins scrolling through the folder, displaying the pictures I took of one player in particular. I fold my arms. “His name is Papa Mbaye Siki. He’s a first year, 6’7, or two meters tall, weighs 192 pounds, which should be about… 87 kilograms. Sorry, that’s my American brain showing. Anyway, he’s a foreign student from Senegal.”

“Senegal?” Hyuga breathes, completely mortified by the pictures. “He’s huge. Two meters?”

“He’s studying abroad,” Izuki states, brows furrowed.

“Are they even allowed to play him?” Koga finishes the vice captain’s thought.

Or so I thought. “Where even is Senegal?”

Rolling her eyes, Riko turns to Kuroko. “Kuroko-kun. Give him a nickname.”

After being given such a task, Kuroko takes my phone from Hyuga and stares at the pictures for a couple seconds before coming up with something. “‘Oto-san’.” ('Dad' in Japanese)

“Oto-san? I get it! Because his name is Papa! Genius!” Izuki exclaims the obvious.

The entire team breaks down into snickers, and I even I have to admit that I chortle at the stupid nickname. Riko, however, isn’t as amused. “Snap out of it. He’s not just tall. His arms and legs are long, too. Everything about him is big. More and more schools are inviting students from abroad to increase their variety of players. Our next opponent, Shinkyo Academy, was only a middle tier school until last year. But with the addition of a single foreign player, they’ve become a completely different team. Therefore, starting tomorrow, Kagami-kun, Kuroko-kun; you two will be starting your own training regimen, and [Name]-chan will be put in charge of it. The preliminaries start on May 16th. Until then, you won’t even have time to complain, you’ll be working so hard! Who’s ready!?”

“Yeah!”

The next three weeks are brutal on the boys, Riko working them down to the bone to whip them into shape for their first tournament game. I don’t show any mercy, either to myself or the team. As I pull Kagami and Kuroko aside every once and awhile to train them separately, I’m also staying up all night watching Shinkyo film and studying each one of their players before coming up with intricate strategies to beat them with.

The hard practices tire the boys out while my late nights negatively impact my school days, in which I struggle to stay awake, much less pay attention, in class. However, one day in English, I glance over at Kuroko and Kagami in their respective desks to my right, both of them lightly snoozing during the lecture. I smile and continue to copy down notes, forcing myself to pay attention, despite my fatigue. They need the rest, and I’m not about to let them fail, either. They’ll be needing what I’ve taken down later.

And eventually, the sixteenth comes around as I walk with my team to Shinkyo Academy, crammed between Kuroko and Kagami. The former and I both glance up at the latter before at each other. Kuroko puts his hands in his pockets. “You couldn’t sleep again, Kagami-kun?”

Frowning, I reach up to the redhead and yank on one of his ears patronizingly. “Yet you seem to doze off in class just fine.”

He smacks my hand away. “S-Shut up.”

As I’m setting up the bench, filling up waters and grabbing some extra towels, fulfilling my basic duties as manager, the boys begin shuffling in from the locker rooms to begin warm ups. And a few minutes after them, a sudden thud comes from the door to said locker rooms. Turning to glance in that direction, I note that Papa had hit his head on the doorframe, having been too tall to walk under it without ducking down.

“Sorry I’m late,” he apologizes to the coach, and I also note his Japanese is rather broken. I can’t blame him, seeing as he’s indigenous to western Africa. I often butchered my Japanese until I’d been speaking it for over two years, too. 

“Why is it that ‘sorry I’m late’ is the only thing you can seem to speak fluently?” one of his teammates teases him for the way he speaks.

“Ball!” Hyuga warns the Shinkyo boy, who turns to find a ball bouncing at his feet. He leans over and picks it up, passing it back to Hyuga politely. “Thank you.”

My eyes narrow as Papa rolls his eyes. “I’m disappointed. They look so weak. How come they get a nice-looking manager?”

Kagami hears this and glares at him as he walks past. Papa doesn’t even acknowledge him and moves to pass him, only to bump into Kuroko, whom he doesn’t even see at first due to his very short height. Eyes widening, he leans over and picks the shorter boy up, holding him up to his eye level, eyeing his Seirin warmup shirt. “Children shouldn’t be on the court, little boy-... What’s this? You’re a player…? And Kaijo lost to you? How disappointing. Are all the Generation of Miracles children?”

With that being said, he sets him down and moves to join the Shinkyo team for warmups. Izuki is snorting and Kagami is rolling on the ground, howling with laughter as even Hyuga and Mitobe have to muffle their chuckles due to Papa’s condescending words towards Kuroko’s small form. The bluette, however, isn’t amused, watching Papa walk away, stark of any emotion. “Honestly, I’m starting to get annoyed.”

All members of the Seirin team cease their laughter immediately, not wanting to learn anytime soon what Kuroko’s wrath looks like, even though they’ve never seen it before. I stalk over to his side, folding my arms and joining him in watching Papa as he warms up on the opposite side of the court. “Us little guys have to stick together.”

He nods, fistbumping me. “Right.”

“Knock ‘em dead, Tetsu-kun,” I pat his shoulder as I head back over to the bench.

He smiles. “We’ll win.”

At the beginning of the first quarter, Shinkyo predictably wins the jump ball. Papa is a solid four inches taller than Kagami and his wingspan much longer. Papa then moves into a jump fadeaway without even a fake to begin with. I narrow my eyes at the foreign player. He’s truly playing without a care in the world; he almost seems… bored. His lack of effort doesn’t matter, however, for Kagami can’t even jump high enough to block his shot, costing us the first basket of the game seven seconds in.

Kawohara scoffs as Papa blocks one of Hyuga’s threes from the freethrow line. “It’s not fair to play such a good foreign player.”

I ignore him, however, not agreeing with the statement. It’s basketball. Anyone should be allowed to play. Instead, I narrow my eyes at a conversation that’s occurring on the court, between Hyuga and the Shinkyo captain, Tanimura Yusuke. He’s a second year, 6’1 and 170 pounds. He smiles innocently at Hyuga. “Are you one of those hard working teams? Yeah, we see those a lot. Don’t go accusing us of breaking any rules; we’re not. What’s wrong with just getting a strong player? All we gotta do is pass him the ball and we win every time.”

My teeth grind at his words. What a trashy mindset to have; a mindset that I came all the way over to Japan in order to escape. Hyuga doesn’t seem too keen on his words, either. “I don’t know how easy it is, but if that’s your policy, then you better not complain. Besides, we’ve got our own ridiculous players. The only difference is that we didn’t have to invite them to play with us.”

Hyuga smirks at Kuroko and Kagami, causing Tanimura to scowl at him slightly. I smirk as Papa misses one of his shots, and as his accuracy begins to decline as the first quarter drags on. Riko notices this too and grins at me. “Kagami-kun’s not letting Oto-san make plays.”

Koga arches a brow. “What plays?”

Riko nods in my direction. “It’s all thanks to our manager’s genius.”

“Oh, please, you’re making me blush,” I joke before jotting things down on my computer as I begin to explain. “During Taiga’s separate training, I paired him up with Rin-senpai for one-on-one sessions so that he could learn how to defend someone much bigger than him; how to lock someone out Mitobe’s way. Don’t get me wrong, Rin-senpai’s a big guy; however, there are a lot of guys playing basketball a bit bigger than 6’1-... or 186 cm to you guys. Sorry. But this is what makes Rin-senpai such an outstanding center. You don’t always have to block shots in order to stop them. You simply have to keep your opponent from comfortably shooting them. I had Rin-senpai teach Taiga this style of defense in order to assist us from keeping Oto-san from shooting; Don’t let him do what he wants to do. Don’t let him go where he wants to go. Force him out of his comfort zone. Pressure him so he can’t take shots so easily. With all these things in mind, Taiga will keep Oto-san from making his shot every single time.”

“And so far it’s working flawlessly,” Riko praises me once more.

“What the hell is this!? I’m pissed!” Papa wipes some sweat from the back of his neck as he misses yet another shot.

Tanimura attempts to hype him back up a bit. “Don’t let it get to you. He’s not tall enough to block you.”

I beam as Kuroko works his magic on the court, making a clean pass past Papa with a perfect trajectory, setting up a flawless dunk for Kagami to take. “This kid’s gonna show you some trouble on the court.”

Kuroko deadpans at me, making his way back to defend. “Would you please stop calling me a child? What happened to us sticking together, [Nickname]-chan?”

My eyes widen slightly at the new nickname, chan added to it as well, but I smile sweetly regardless. “Sorry, Tetsu-kun! It was just an opportunity, so I had to take it, y’know?”

“Kuroko-kun gave you a nickname, [Name]-chan!” Koga gasps in awe before opting to be a bit of a tease. “He must really like you.”

Shrugging it off, I internally cheer at the sight of Kagami actually blocking one of Papa’s shots, having jumped high enough to smack it out of the air. My eyes flicker to his calves and knees, scanning and scrutinizing all the data I could collect by just looking at them. I knew he had some power behind those hops, and his potential is nowhere near finite. I smirk, leaning my chin into my palm as he dunks it for two buckets in a row.

“Kuroko, have you always been this good?” Kagami asks the bluette, jogging alongside Hyuga back to defend. “Your passes are on point today.”

“Are you really that mad about being called a kid?” Hyuga adds, somewhat amused.

Kuroko ignores the boys, brows furrowed. Kagami grins. “Guess Oto-san should wait to trash talk a team until after he’s played ‘em, huh?”

As the first quarter comes to a close, the score stands at 8-23 in our favor. I give up my seat on the bench for Hyuga, who gratefully takes it along with the towels and waters I hand out to each of the starters who just came out of play. Riko stands before them with me at her side, silent as she talks to them.

“Kuroko-kun, you have a time-limit; therefore, we’re subbing you out for the time being because we have to start reserving your strength,” she states. “Without him, we’ll lose some points during the midgame, so don’t let them close the point gap too much. Uphold our lead. They don’t have any exceptional players except for Oto-san, right, [Name]-chan?”

My head perks up at the sound of my name. “Oh, no, they don’t. I mean, their captain is above average, I’d say, but his mentality is still trash. Besides, you’ve all faced adversaries better than him before and came out victorious, so there’s no need to worry. Other than that, I don’t pick up any standout talent. They don’t work as a team.”

Riko nods. “So, ultimately, it all comes down to how well Kagami-kun can handle Oto-san.”

I glance at said ace, only to find him simpering from ear to ear. He loves the responsibility, the whole team relying on him to be better than his opponent. It makes his adrenaline run like crazy, his legs bouncing slightly as he itches to get back in the game.

And his wish is granted a short time after, the buzzer sounding for the players to return to the court. I take all of the sweaty towels and half empty water bottles, sans Kuroko’s. He remains on the bench as Koga takes his place in the lineup. I narrow my eyes at Papa’s new demeanor. He’s playing seriously, now, no longer taking my boys for granted. He jumps even higher than he did before, out of Kagami’s reach, making baskets like it’s nobody’s business.

Izuki gapes. “He really is amazing!”

Hyuga’s brow twitches. “The hell!? Did he get even taller during the break?”

Kagami responds to the challenge with a positive and hardworking attitude, matching Papa’s new energy to prevent him from shrinking the point gap any longer. He jumps up and snags a rebound right in front of him, quickly passing it off to Mitobe, who hands it to Izuki, who sets up Hyuga for a nice three-pointer. 

Fired up, Shinkyo immediately sends it back down the court, quickly getting it back into Papa’s hands. He immediately turns to take a shot, only to find Kagami already marking him. He jumps for the three-pointer, raising the ball above his head, eyes wide when a hand blocks his view of the basket and climbs higher, blocking his shot on the goal. Kagami is jumping higher and higher with every shot he takes. Troubled, now, Papa thinks fast and passes the ball off to one of his teammates to avoid losing the ball by attempting a shot.

“What’s wrong, Papa?” the teammate exclaims as he holds the ball away from Izuki. “You had that! Try again!”

He immediately passes it back, the ball bouncing into Papa’s grasp. I scoff, eyes narrowing at the Shinkyo players. All of their points so far have been scored by Papa. They don’t even try to score or make plays. They just pass it off to him and let him do the work. If I’m being honest, their lack of teamwork disgusts me. This time, Papa attempts to dribble around Kagami and go for the layup. Thanks to Mitobe’s defensive training, however, Kagami keeps him from getting a comfortable shot off.

“Kagami-kun’s amazing,” Tsuchida recognizes the player’s skill as I have been. “He’s more than keeping him in check. He’s not losing him at all.”

Riko pries her eyes away from Kagami’s defense and looks at the scoreboard, squinting at the closing gap between the scores. She scratches her chin, peering around to the other end of the bench. “Kuroko-kun. Can you go the last five minutes?”

He sits just to my left, leaning around me as he looks at his coach. “Actually, I’ve been ready to head back in for a while now.”

“Ah, sorry!” Riko smiles, pointing at the court. “Go on and get out there, then!”

He stands, quickly pulling his warm up shirt over his head and tossing it at me. Busy staring at my laptop screen, which has minimal notes, seeing as this game isn’t too impressive, I don’t look up as I catch it out of the air, setting it on the bench beside me as Kuroko heads over to the table. 

The speed of the game shifts once he’s back on the floor, Koga sitting next to me in his place. His passes continue to control the play in our favor, Shinkyo not having enough time to adjust to his misdirection. He sends a one-handed chest pass down half court to Mitobe, who easily finger rolls it in. Just as Papa thinks the ball is in his possession again, Kuroko smacks it away to Hyuga, who shoots a three. He dives in front of one of the captain’s passes, redirecting it back to Kagami, who performs his signature dunk.

In the closing seconds of the game, Papa goes for one last shot, forcing Kagami back with a powerful dribble. “I don’t want to lose!”

Kagami continues to block him out to the best of his ability. “Earlier, you said you were disappointed with the Generation of Miracles, but you overestimated yourself. Compared to you, they’re way stronger!”

With that trash talk being said, Kagami jumps up and smacks Papa’s desperate last second attempt of a shot away from the basket, the ball hitting the floor and bouncing out of bounds as the buzzer goes off, concluding the game. Checking the score one last time, the team joins the players out on court in victory. We won 67-79. Riko sighs in relief, giggling as she joins the boys happily. I, however, close my laptop and stand, stretching out some kinks in my back. I’ve felt this presence since half time, one that I just barely recognize. Glancing out the side of my eye, I spot him on the balcony above, standing in his Shutoku school uniform. His eyes meet mine for a millisecond behind his glasses before he turns on his heel and walks off.

Shaking off my suspicion for now, I turn to join some of my teammates and congratulate them on their victory. That’s when Papa comes over, glaring somewhat at Kagami as he approaches him and mutters, “I lost… Please play hard for me in your next game.”

Kagami gasps, genuinely surprised at how well the foreign player had taken the loss. “Huh? Oh, sure. Of course.”

With that, the two meter tall player begins laughing down at him before he’s dragged out of the gym by his embarrassed teammates. “I mean you’re an idiot! Idiot! Hahaha! You moron! I won’t lose next time!”

Amused, I roll my eyes at Kagami, fuming at Papa’s words. I punch him playfully on the shoulder, snapping him out of his fury. He glances down at me, annoyed until I hold up my hand with a smile. Sighing, he rolls his eyes and reluctantly high fives it, and I giggle at his stubborn nature. I never fail to calm him down.

And with that win, Seirin successfully makes it through the first game in the preliminaries. Our second game is Jitsuzen High, which I don’t even really need to mention. With Kuroko benched the whole game, we crushed them 118-51. By the end of that game, I hadn’t even written a single note on my document, not having learned anything by watching them play. Kuroko nearly fell asleep, having fallen off the bench in the third quarter. He was pretty alert after that.

Our third game in the preliminaries was against Kinga High. According to my research, they made it to the top sixteen last year. A decently strong team. Good balance between offense and defense. However, they aren’t good enough for us to have jeopardized Kuroko’s abilities by putting him in the game. Riko and I are playing cautiously, trying to keep his misdirection as secretive as possible. We don’t need every team in the tournament knowing about him and preparing strategies to play against his strengths.

This strategy comes with a side effect, however. At our game against Kinga, I sat beside Kuroko the whole match. Throughout every quarter, his leg was bouncing up and down, his concentration on the game he wasn’t playing in. After he had caught me glancing, he had shook his head and told me that "it was nothing" and that "he was just feeling restless." I remember smiling at him, excited by his enthusiasm to play. Until he lightly placed a hand on my knee, which I hadn’t noticed I had been vigorously bouncing as well. 

“Seems you’re feeling restless, too, [Nickname]-chan,” he had teased me without a smile.

The Kinga High game ended with a score of 102-71 in our favor, and we move onto our fourth game against Meijo Academy. And by now, Riko has asked me to start assisting in warm ups with the guys. So I’ll act as someone who sets them up for a certain shot or layup or, for Kagami, an alley-oop and such. So as Kuroko misses the jump shot I set him up for, I chase the ball for him after it bounces off the rim. He follows after me, standing behind me as I crouch down to pick it up.

“It’s the fourth prelim. We might actually have a tough game, for once,” a familiar voice reaches my ears, and I stand up straight beside Kuroko, following his gaze as the opposing team walks into our gym, seeing as we’re hosting this game.

“We’re against Seirin, today,” another one of them states. “This should be easy for us. They got destroyed in the championship last year. They’re nothing but a school that barely scraped by due to sheer luck.”

He’s the first one I recognize. The brunet from the park that put a hand up my shirt. Kuroko recognizes them as well, brows somewhat furrowed beside me. To my surprise, Kagami appears at my side, standing slightly in front of me in a somewhat protective manner. My heart flutters at the miniscule gesture. No one’s ever been so protective of me before; but the guys on this team, all of them… They seem to always have my back. Always. It’s a feeling that’s foreign to me, but I greedily welcome it, nonetheless.

“We’ll destroy them this-...” the brunet doesn’t finish his sentence before he collides into Kagami’s sturdy chest, having not been paying attention to where he was going. “Huh?”

“So, we meet again,” Kagami grunts, looking down at him from his height.

“Hello,” Kuroko adds, having taken the ball from me, spinning it around his pointer finger.

The whole team cringes at the sight of the two before their eyes land on me, and they take a physical step back in retreat from my dead stare, face blank. I can practically read the thoughts running through their minds, and from this moment on, I know we’re going to obliterate them. 

With our opponents being completely terrified of us the whole time, we finish the game with a score of 108-41. Another easy dub, another chance to smack those cocky guys in their place. Two birds with one stone, in my opinion. 

And with that, we finish preliminaries and Seirin will soon move on to their first Inter-High game of the season. Which will be up against one of the schools I have been told are the three kings of Tokyo. One of the three always makes it to the finals in the tournament every year. It isn’t the same one each year, but there’s always one that comes out on top of the other two. For our first game, we’ll be playing Seiho, the King of the North. 

I’ve already predicted which of the three would rise to the top this year, based on what I researched online. Shutoku, King of the East, will most likely be who we’ll be playing if we make it to the finals. They crushed the Seirin team last year, and this year, they’ve added two exceptional players to their first string. Takao Kazunari and Midorima Shintaro, the latter being one of the Generation of Miracles.

I’ve spotted him at several of our games, observing his former teammate play. He’s tall, has well kept yet somewhat long green hair and murky green eyes behind a pair of thin framed glasses. From what I’ve heard, rumor has it he’s never missed a shot and has a shooting range wider than anyone I’ve ever heard of. If his accuracy is as incredible as I’ve heard it to be, then I’ve got to see it for myself.

Therefore, I drag the whole team along to the Shutoku's fourth and final preliminary game, against Kinka High. I decided it would benefit the rest of them to see how they play, too. I get us a front row seat on the balcony, our team taking up half of the first row and half of the row right behind it. I sit between Kuroko and Riko, Kagami sitting beside Kuroko, Hyuga beside Riko, and Izuki right behind me. As soon as I’m situated, I pull my laptop out of my bag and immediately open up a new document to take notes on. 

I glance up at the student section on the opposite side of the gym, holding up signs that read ‘ 永続的で疲れ知らず ’, or ‘Shutoku: Persistent and Tireless’ in Kanji. We should really get a banner for our school motto. Do we even have a motto? I suppose not; Seirin hasn't been around long enough to really make a name for itself. Maybe that’s something I should look into as manager. Coming up with a slogan could be fun. I smile at the sound of the orange crowd's chants and cheers. Kagami notices this. “What are you smiling so stupidly at?”

I blink, my smile soft, but remaining. “If I miss anything about American sports, it’s definitely the school spirit.”

Hyuga arches a brow. “What do you mean? Our team has plenty of spirit.”

I shake my head. “It isn’t the same. You guys are a relatively new team. Our student peers don’t attend your games. They don’t come to cheer you on. In America, it didn’t matter if your team was good or if it was absolute garbage. The student section would always be packed with people who came to support and cheerleaders would lead chants and all that fun stuff. That’s what we did at my old high school, at least. I can’t help but miss it.”

Izuki tugs on a bit of my hair mockingly. “What do you mean ‘your games’? You’re a part of our team now, too, [Nickname]-chan. And soon enough, people will be traveling from miles away just to see us play.”

“Or just to see [Name]-chan in her uniform skirt,” Koga winks.

Ignoring Koga’s flirtatious comment, I smile at Izuki, grabbing his hand from out of my hair. He smiles and squeezes it comfortingly before leaning back in his seat. I turn back to my screen, hands folded in my lap as I smile down at them smalley. Izuki, though a total jokester, can really catch me in my feelings from time to time. He always knows what to say. I can’t help but feel love when I’m with these guys. They’re basically my family, seeing as I don’t have anyone here to depend on in Japan.

I’m snapped out of my train of thought as the student section across from us goes wild. Eyes wide, I sit up straight and crane my neck to see the boys of Shutoku walking out onto the court below. Low and behold, there he is. Midorima Shintaro, first-year shooting guard. He’s 6’5, 174 lbs, face stripped of any emotion as he struts across the floorboards, nothing distracting him from his end goal. 

And standing beside him with a playful smile plastered on his face is Takao Kazunari, Shutoku’s first-year point guard. Ebony black hair, striking silver eyes, standing at a shorter height of 5’9 and weighing in around 143 lbs. I narrow my eyes at him as he continues to smile smugly, seeming to be a very playful and carefree spirit. I can tell he’s skilled; a strange aura radiates from him. I’m going to have to keep my eye on him.

As my fingers fly over my keyboard with all the information I’m taking in by just looking at them, I barely notice a head of unmistakable red hair sauntering onto the court. My typing halts mid-note, my breath hitching as Kagami approaches Midorima on the court.

“What’s that moron doing!?” Riko stands from her seat in shock.

“Is he even allowed to be on the court? He’s not a player,” Koga deadpans.

Scoffing, I half-mask my computer screen and stand from my seat, watching the interaction intently from the railing. Getting a closer look at Midorima as Kagami greets him, I notice small details about him. How the fingers on his left hand are each carefully bandaged to a pristine wrap, and the small stuffed bear he holds in his left palm. Takao stands beside him, laughing to himself about something the sharp shooter must’ve said to Kagami.

My eyes narrow as Kagami offers his hand to Midorima to shake. Recognizing the gesture, Midorima moves the stuffed bear over to his right hand so that he can shake Kagami’s with his left. Just as Kagami grabs his hand, a smirk crawls onto his lips as he whips out a marker pen and writes something on Midorima’s palm. I squint to try and read it, but even with my eyes, from this distance, it’s impossible. 

Midorima looks irritated at first, but is surprisingly quick to get over it as Kagami folds his arms proudly. By this time, Takao seems to have joined the conversation, adding a much friendlier and light-hearted vibe to the environment. However, maybe I spoke too soon. Whatever Takao told Kagami didn’t seem to sit right with the ace, his eyes wide-...

“What the hell is Tetsu-kun doing on the court?” I deadpan from the railing. No one noticed him leave, and I was too focused on the conversation. Damn…

Midorima doesn’t seem too pleased by the reunion with his former teammate. Kuroko doesn’t seem to care much for it, either. Whatever the bluette says, however, strikes a funny chord within Takao, who laughs and drapes an arm around the boy. He whispers something that Midorima picks up on and doesn’t like, seeing as he smacks the boy in the back of the head.

By now, the refs call for the game to begin, kicking Kuroko and Kagami off the court. Riko leans back in relief. “Seems Kuroko-kun really gave them an earful, huh?”

With a sigh, I lean farther into the railing as I watch the Shutoku boys change into uniform, preparing for the game ahead of them. Just as I’m about to stand up and retreat back to my seat, a pair of glasses gleaming in the light catches my eyes, which come in direct contact with Midorima’s haunting gaze. And this time, neither of us looks away. I don’t dare move an inch, staring him down the entire time. I don’t break contact, and neither does he, even as Takao begins tugging on his sleeve to join him and the rest of the team on the bench. When the shooting guard doesn’t budge, the point guard follows his gaze and finds me, arching a brow. I don’t think he recognizes me. Good.

Eventually, however, Midorima seems to get annoyed by Takao’s onslaught of questions and turns to scold him. I would've smirked victoriously if I hadn’t been surprised from behind. Kagami grabs my jacket collar and yanks me back from the railing as he and Kuroko return from the court. Red in the face and grumbling under his breath, the ace shoves me back into my chair, where I arch a brow at him for his behavior. I receive no response, however, as he huffs and plops down in his own seat two to the right of me.

Kuroko sits in between us, immediately sensing my perplexion as his eyes remain glued onto the court. “You were exposed due to the way you were standing.”

Not understanding at first, I tilt my head in confusion. Kuroko doesn’t hint at anything else, however, waiting for me to catch on on my own. And I do, eventually. Eyes wide, my gaze darts down to the short uniform skirt I wear, and I can feel my face heating up as I tug it down a bit lower, vigorously trying to remember what underwear I decided to wear today, seeing as everyone in the section behind me probably saw them for themselves. Absolutely humiliated, I try to cool my face as I sink back into my seat, pulling my laptop back onto my lap and typing furiously to focus on literally anything other than my own embarrassment.

The game starts and I immediately forget about my humility, overwhelmed by how impressed I am with the Shutoku play. Hyuga notices this as well from a few seats away. “They make it look so easy because their fundamentals are so solid; but those are only the fundamentals. Naturally, there’s another reason. They have an infallible scorer.

I watch as the Shutoku captain, number four, Otsubo Taisuke, wins a rebound against two opposing players and dunks on them without a hitch. He lands gracefully on his heels as the two Kinka players land on their asses at his feet. I believe he’s a senior, and based on what I’m seeing now, he’s 6’6 and 216 lbs. Rather impressive stats for a high school center.

“We couldn’t do anything about him last year,” Hyuga continues.

“Otsubo on the inside and a normal outside was Shutoku’s game until last year,” Riko adds, sitting beside the captain. “Now they have two new first-years playing in the first string.”

“Looks like Midorima’s playing well,” Kagami agrees with a nod as said shooter scores a three.

“Does he?” Kuroko asks softly.

“Well, I don’t know,” Kagami retorts stubbornly. “You played with him, shouldn’t you know?”

The bluette shrugs simply. “I can’t tell whether he’s playing well or not. I’ve never seen him miss, after all.”

When Midorima takes a shot from nearly as far out as half court, I can’t help but stand in awe as a response to his beautiful form. I step up to the railing and place a hand on it, watching in astonishment as the ball makes it through the net, perfectly center, not even grazing the rim. A perfect shot. The rest of the team, all but Kuroko, are in complete shock at the shot, jaws slack and eyes wide.

“What a beautiful shot…” I breathe as Midorima and Takao had been walking back to defend before the ball even made it through the hoop; they knew he wouldn’t miss.

Kuroko stands beside me. “As long as Midorima-kun doesn’t lose his form, he makes 100% of his shots.”

“Fantastic…” I nearly begin drooling at the thought of coming up with strategies to beat such an outstanding player. The rest of the team deadpans at my shift in demeanor, somewhat creeped out by the glint in my eyes. “His form is so… so… sexy! It’s almost too damn perfect! I’ve gotta get my hands on his record, his data, his stats… I know he’s hiding some insane abilities from me, but I’m gonna find out what they are. We’re gonna crush them once I do. How exciting!”

The Seirin teammates reel back in shock at me, having never seen this side of me before. It must be terrifying, seeing as I’m usually rather calm and composed, and here I stand, grinning like a maniac at the thought of an actual challenge. Also, I don’t think they’ve heard me say the word 'sexy' once since I’ve started managing them, so they can add that to the vocabulary. I suppose you can say that I've officially grown out of the social incompetence I failed to hide when I first arrived in Tokyo. I owe it to these dumbasses for breaking me out of my shell, after all.

Shutoku nonchalantly strolls off the court after the fourth quarter, seeming almost bored by the outcome of the game. They did finish with a lead of 153-21, after all. I hum in delight at the thought of playing such an impressive team, leaning my elbow against the railing and balancing my chin on my palm with half-lidded eyes and a soft smile. As if they could feel my eyes on them, both Takao and Midorima glance in my direction, looking up at me as they towel off their hard work. 

“[Nickname]-chan, your skirt,” Kuroko points out what I’d forgotten, unphased as he stares at my exposed backside.

My face implodes as I jump up, pulling it down to cover my backside again, trying to play it off coolly as usual. It can be hard to hide emotion as well as I do, but I’ve had years of experience growing up in the area that I did. By the time I’ve turned around, my face has cooled off, for the most part, a hint of rosiness painting my cheeks and nose. I observe the reactions of everyone who saw. Half the team had turned to look away in either an attempt to respect my indecency or just out of fear of what I’d do if I had caught them staring. I can’t tell which is which, but they’re all red in the face. The other half, however, including Izuki, Koga, Kuroko, Fukuda, Kawohara, and Kagami, I catch all staring.

Izuki, though blushing, is struggling to conceal his laughter, biting his lip. He struggles less when Hyuga hits him over the head, face as red as a late sunset in the summer. Koga is expected, being the pervert he is, grinning stupidly. Fukuda and Kawohara look away as soon as they catch me glaring at them, terrified of facing my wrath, whatever that may be. Kuroko doesn’t seem to be bothered, flesh free of flush and his expression calm and collected as his eyes linger on my skirt. Kagami, however, is fuming; if his face could be anymore red, I’m sure he’d have to let steam out of his ears in order to maintain a healthy temperature. His brow twitches as he grabs my collar, shaking me harshly and lifting me off the ground as he does so.

“Taiga. It’s not that big of a deal,” I deadpan, playing off my embarrassment well, per usual.

“You have to stop being so careless, moron!” he continues to shake me as I ragdoll in his grasp, bored of the scolding and ready to head home.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Midorima and Takao head over to their bench just as their game is about to begin against Kinko High. The former watches as Kuroko and his new light head off the court after just confronting him. As he’s about to join his team in preparation for the match, a familiar sensation tickles in the back of his mind, the feeling of someone’s eyes on him making his skin crawl. Straightening up, he turns around and looks up at the stadium seats above on the balcony, where Kuroko’s new high school team, Seirin, sits.

All but one of them.

The new manager for Seirin leans against the railing, looking down at him eerily. The lack of emotion on her face sends a soft shiver down his spine. Her expression is too similar to his own; she’s just as skilled at concealing her thoughts from her face. Her [H/L], silky [H/C] hair slips over her shoulder from behind her ear, but she doesn’t move to tuck it back into its former position. Her striking [E/C] eyes don’t blink for a second, standing still as a panther, stalking its prey.

A staredown.

A staredown that Midorima isn’t about to lose. He glares right back up at her as he wracks his mind to remember her name. Kise had said it at the practice game he attended, in which Seirin beat Kaijo with an impressive win. What was it…? [Last Name]. Yes, that’s right, [Last Name][Name]. For some reason, the name strikes a chord within him, as if he’d heard it somewhere before. Though, he’s never seen this girl in his life. Not until now, as he glares at her.

“Hey, Shin-chan. Hurry up or coach is gonna get mad,” Takao groans, arching a brow when his basketball pal doesn’t respond, nor move, for that matter. “Yoo hoo? Did all that Oha Asa bullshit you listen to go and deafen your hearing? What’re you even looking at, anyway?”

To answer his own question, Takao stands beside Midorima and follows his gaze, where he finds a girl to be staring back down at them. She’s short and has a small frame, but even from here, Takao can tell she’s muscularly defined and athletic. Her appearance is eye catching, nonetheless, with those enchantingly [E/C] irises of hers. She hasn’t blinked, nor has Midorima. Takao looks back and forth between the two, curious as to why this staredown is occurring in the first place.

As he looks back up at the girl in the Seirin High School uniform, he notices something rather ominous. As Takao had identified before, the girl’s eyes are [E/C]. However, for a split second, he swears that he saw them shimmer from [E/C] to gold, glowing in the shadows rather than reflecting the light. Midorima notices this, too, but doesn’t let it distract him for the moment. He wasn’t going to lose this battle; besides, he’s seen her eyes do that before, at the Kaijo game. It’s only a matter of time before he discovers what it is she can do with them.

“Woah, did you see that, Shin-chan!? Her eyes changed colors!” Takao exclaims in awe, tugging at the shooting guard’s warm up sleeve like a child begging for his mother’s attention. “Who is she anyway, Shin-chan? Does she go to Seirin? Is she their manager? Do you know her? Do you think she’s pretty, Shin-chan? Huh? Huh?”

Having successfully aggravated the former Generation of Miracle, Takao takes a step back as Midorima growls and turns to glower at him, yelling at him in annoyance. “Shut up, nanodayo! Your voice is enough to give me a headache!”

Eyes wide, Midorima looks back up at the stands at neck breaking speed in realization that he’d just broken eye contact, losing the little match he had going on with [Name]. He expected her to be smugly condescending him with her victory, only to feel a slight shock to see that she’s turned around, Kagami and Kuroko having returned to their seats. He watches as the former angrily pushes her into her seat as the latter sits beside her. He scoffs, shaking off the loss and brushing past a curious Takao.

“Who is she, Shin-chan? Is she your crush?” he fires off his never ending questions.

“No, moron. She’s the new Seirin manager,” he answers for the sole purpose of keeping the first year point guard from running his mouth any longer. “And quite frankly, I don’t know who she is or what she’s capable of yet. But I have to admit, she makes me uneasy.”

Takao’s eyes widen, sparkling when he hears this new phenomenon. “You!? Uneasy!? You really do have a crush on her, huh?”

Midorima continues to ignore Takao as the game begins, in which none of them need to put in any effort. In fact, it’s over in the blink of an eye, barely a drop of sweat falling from the brows of Shutoku after blowing Kinka out of the water. As Midorima follows his team off the court and towards the locker rooms, toweling off his forehead, the same shivery feeling from before crawls up his spine; and this time, Takao can feel it, too. 

They both turn to face it in unison, pausing their drying off as they look up at [Last Name][Name] once again, on the same spot of the railing as before. This time, however, she isn’t boring down on them with an emotionless stare, as she did before. No. Takao’s breath hitches and Midorima’s eyes widen as she leans into her palm, hair spilling over her shoulder and mysterious [E/C] optics gleaming.

Her smile is absolutely haunting.

They don’t get to bask in it for long, however, as she quickly whips around on her heel, tugging on her skirt, which Kuroko is nonchalantly pointing at. Half the Seirin team looks away guiltily, for some reason, ashamed for looking at whatever they had seen. The shade of Kagami’s face rivaled even his hair as he clutches the collar of [Name]’s jacket, lifting her off her feet and shaking her rather violently as he scolds her, which she seems to be ignoring as she ragdolls and deadpans in his grasp.

Midorima scoffs, adjusting his glasses before turning and continuing back with his team to the lockers, leaving Takao in bewilderment. His wide eyes take in every second of her, still having no clue who she is… He can’t quite place it, but he knows she’s special in some way. No way she’s nothing above ordinary with the undeniable presence she flaunts. Not even Midorima can overlook it. Color him impressed.

With one last glance at the curious girl, the ravenette point guard sprints after his fellow first year into the locker rooms, a plethora of new questions for him to ask now at his disposal, all of them concerning the mystery of a manager Seirin’s gotten their hands on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again :) The fact that big Papa™ and Tendou have the same VA will forever bring me joy >:)
> 
> I've just now noticed how fucking long these chapters are, so I'm sorry if they're boring you. I guess you can just tell me if you'd prefer them at a different length. Yeah, that sounds responsible of me to ask, lmao.
> 
> Oh, also, I forgot to mention in the past two chapters. I have absolutely no fucking clue what high school in Japan is like. At all. Like, don't they have one class they sit in for the entire day or something? Like Class 1-A and 2-A or something like that? And I know their entire school year is way different, too, but... Idk y'all, I think I'm just going to write their school lives as how I know school to be, with like class schedules and stuff. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Japanese education is heaps and bounds better than whatever the fuck American education is, but I'm afraid that I'm simply more acquainted with the latter and am going to have to stick to that. Sorry :( I wish I was smarter, but like I said, American education system, am I right?


	4. Analytical

Kagami, Kuroko and I sit at a lunch table together, eating our respective meals. I always pack myself a lunch, having never been too fond of school cafeteria food. Kuroko does the same, but Kagami always buys as much as he can get from vending machines and such. The table being round, not one of us sits next to the other without simultaneously sitting beside the third. However, I’m seated slightly closer to Kuroko today, a history textbook propped open between us, for we have a test in class later today. Looking up from mine and Kuroko’s notes, I take a bite out of my apple, deadpanning at the redhead across from us as he devours one of his multiple sandwiches in seconds.

“You’re eating more than usual,” Kuroko notes this as well, sipping on his juice box.

At the bluette’s words, Kagami stops eating, if only for a second, to glare at him, eyeing his lunch, which consisted of a single sandwich and juice box. “I’m surprised that’s enough food, even for you.”

Kuroko shrugs as he reaches across me and grabs one of my chips. “It usually is. If I’m ever still feeling peckish, I trust [Name]-chan will have enough food to spare.”

My brow twitches slightly as he eats the chip without permission, but I let it fly this one time, too stressed about the upcoming test to care. Eventually, the sounds of Kuroko’s and Kagami’s one sided bickering are shoved to the back of my mind as I scrutinize my own tiny handwriting; a last ditch attempt to cram in some studying beforehand, seeing as I was too lazy to go over the material last night. And studying any sooner than the night before the test is completely alien to me.

Grabbing my water bottle, I don’t look away from my notes in order to take a sip. Instead, I bring it up to the side of my mouth and draw some water from the flask up to my lips through the straw. Thirst quenched, I’m about to set the [F/C] flask back down when a sudden loud thud causes me to jump in surprise, having not expected the sudden noise and been too distracted to have seen it coming. Kagami snickers as I spill a bit of water on my uniform shirt, some of the liquid dribbling down my chin, which I brush off calmly after regaining myself.

The source of the thud is none other than Riko, grinning from ear to ear as she drops what looks to be two very heavy boxes on the table we eat at. She dusts her hands off before placing them on her hips. “I forgot you three have lunch this period! Perfect! Come with me. Kagami-kun, Kuroko-kun; carry these boxes for me, would you?”

Kagami spits out his drink, infuriated. “But we had a game yesterday! We’re sore!”

“You’d really make a maiden carry all these heavy boxes all by herself?” she pouts playfully as Kuroko quickly finishes what’s left of his lunch and moves to help. I grab both his and my notes, placing them in our respective bags and carrying them both, one on either shoulder. I also grab Kagami’s, seeing as it’s rather light on material and now empty of food.

“I don’t see any maidens here,” Kagami groans as he stands up, in which he receives a glare from me and a solid punch in the ribs from Riko. 

Kuroko deadpans as the redhead yelps in pain. “Perhaps if you’d learn to stop being so stubborn, you wouldn’t be punished nearly as often.”

“S-Shut up…” he winces back from mine and Riko’s glare, reluctantly grabbing the second box, Kuroko having already taken the first. “What’s in these, anyway?”

“Game footage from teams we’ve played both this year and last year that I found in the club room. [Name]-chan requested I find them for her,” Riko explains with a smile as the three of us follow her to wherever it is that she’s leading us. 

My eyes light up at the news, and I jump up and down ecstatically. “You actually found it!? Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She giggles at my excitement. “Of course. After all, we’re going to be playing two games in a row against the kings in the semifinals. There’s no such thing as overanalyzing in our scenario, even with [Name]-chan being around to do it all for us. I just need to transfer them over to the athletic office in the gym for later use. Thanks for the help, guys.”

As Kuroko and Kagami set the boxes down, the bell for lunch to end and class to start rings. Cringing, I hand both the boys their bags and sprint off back towards the main building, biting my lip anxiously. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, Kagami arches a brow as he watches me beeline off.

“What’s up with her?” he asks boredly.

Kuroko’s eyes widen and he bolts after me, leaving Kagami even more perplexed before exclaiming, “we have a history test in three minutes!”

The ace rolls his eyes at his friends, strolling off in the opposite direction towards his math class. “Serves you guys right for enrolling in all the advanced placement classes for first years. Tch. Good luck, morons.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

History test completed and the rest of the school day finished, Kagami jogs back to the locker room, having forgotten his basketball shoes after practice. He enters his locker combination and swings it open, grabbing the pair of shoes before slamming it back shut. Just as he does so, a head of blue hair catches his peripheral vision. He jumps in surprise at the sight of Kuroko at his own locker, grabbing his water bottle. 

“What are you doing!? When did you get here!?” Kagami calms his beating heart.

“I forgot something,” he states simply, demonstrating the forgotten water bottle before shutting the door. “Besides, I was here first. You were the one who came in after me.”

“You should’ve said something! You scared the shit outta me!” he retorts once again, brow twitching.

“Blah, blah, blah. All you two do is bicker,” I joke, leaning against the doorframe of the locker room, scaring Kagami even more. 

“The hell! Stop sneaking up on me like that!” he breathes, eyes wide. “Besides, this is the boys locker room. Why are you here?”

“Serves you right for laughing at me earlier today,” I state smugly before holding up the tape I clutch between two fingers, showing it off to the two. “Film from a match between Seiho and some other school from last year. I figured the closest television with a DVD player was in here, so I’d use it to go over the footage. Seeing as you two are already here, I think it’d really benefit you to stick around and watch it with me.”

Kuroko mindlessly agrees and Kagami gives in eventually, plopping down on the bench as I wheel the screen over, turning it on and inserting the disk. Grabbing a remote, I stand beside Kagami, who’s nearly as tall as me while he’s sitting, and fold my arms. Kuroko stands behind the bench, the static on screen reflecting in his eyes before it switches to the game.

My brow furrows a couple minutes into the film. “I can see why they’re considered one of the three kings. Their defense is extraordinary.”

“Yeah,” Kagami agrees, leaning into his palm boredly. “That one bald guy’s marking seems especially tough.”

Considering his words, I, too, watch a certain player’s play style on the screen. He indeed does seem to be a force to be reckoned with on defense. Most players on the team opposing Seiho fail to break past his defense even once, or even make a comfortable shot. He’s an absolute locksmith when it comes to basketball. My eyes flicker to a shot of his face as he smacks the ball out of an unsuspecting player’s hands, the grin on his lips seeming almost malicious, but in a childish way.

“I know him,” Kuroko states out of the blue, and Kagami and I both turn to look at him, interest piqued. “I played his team back in middle school.”

“With the Generation of Miracles?” Kagami straightens up, no longer bored.

“Yes,” Kuroko nods, continuing his story. “His name’s Tomoki Tsugawa. We had only just started the game, but he stopped Kise-kun from making a lay up. From then and throughout the game, Kise-kun struggled when it came to reaching his norm of points per game, seeing as he was marked by Tsugawa the whole time.”

“I see,” I turn back to the television, finger on my chin as I begin scanning this Tsugawa guy through the screen, mind flooding with possible strategies to beat this incredible team. Some of them might work, most of them will probably fail when put to the test. Therefore, I pull out my cell and send a quick text to Riko, informing her that we need to spend tomorrow's practice watching Seiho film and analyzing their formation and plays as a team. Kuroko and Kagami watch as I put my phone back away, expression somewhat grim. “This one’s going to be tough.”

Kagami’s eyes widen at my words. “Tough? You’re serious?”

My eyes gleam gold as I glance at the television before facing him and his shadow. “To be quite honest with you, from a statistical standpoint, we’d lose nine times out of ten in a match against Seiho in our current state, fourteen out of fifteen against Shutoku.”

Kagami stands in shock. “How can you tell that by just looking at a screen!? You barely knew a thing about them two minutes ago!”

I shake my head. “It’s just a simple perk to my abilities. You haven’t noticed them until now?”

“Noticed what?” he growls, feeling mocked.

“Her eyes,” Kuroko answers for me, nodding in my direction.

And that’s when Kagami sees them for the first time. My [E/C] eyes melting into a gleaming molten gold color, glowing in the dimly lit locker room and reflecting the screen of the television. He takes a step back in shock, reeling back at the sight. As my eyes remain gold, I can see numbers and statistics floating around both him and Kuroko, abilities being projected to me at a thousand terms per second.

“When in this state, my abilities are similar to Coach Riko’s; that’s why I was so interested in her after I first heard about her. I can transduce your potential and abilities into numbers to crunch and words to memorize. It’s the ability I use most often, seeing as it’s the least mentally draining. Why do you think I carry a laptop with me to every game I watch? I need someplace to store all that information. Although I try to keep up with it all, sometimes data can slip past my attention beyond my knowing. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed before; after all, it’s not everyday you see someone’s eyes change color.”

As Kagami comprehends this information with pale features, Kuroko arches a brow. “You speak as if this is just one ability you have of many, [Nickname]-chan.”

Damn his perception. I shrink back a bit, my eyes fading back to their normal [E/C] hue. “Ah, that’s something to discuss at a later date. As of now, watching Seiho play in this footage, I’ve come up with at least something to go off of. I wouldn’t call it a strategy, just yet, but I do have an idea…. Oh, it’s late! I really ought to be going!”

Before they can even get the chance to ask anymore questions, I grab the DVD from the television and bid them farewell, grabbing my bag and running out the door. I hastily unlock my [F/C] bike from the rack and begin pedaling my way home, mind wandering. That was close. I really don’t want to reveal my powers to anyone else just yet. They’re something I don’t like to flaunt; they’re dangerous and often, at times, too flashy. I don’t want to seem like a self-centered show off by displaying them often….

Seeing as I quit basketball myself, hopefully I won’t have to use them ever again.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The day of Seirin’s first semi-final arrives sooner than I would’ve liked it to; I can’t help but feel that with more time I could’ve come up with more refined strategies and tuned the ones I’ve already come up with further. However, I can’t slow down time, no matter how hard I wish I could. Seeing as the game is on a weekend, I had to tell Riko I’d be arriving separately from the team, just half an hour later. As I pull into the spot reserved for me at the large courts as a member of the Seirin team, I snatch my bag and other necessities before jumping out of my car (a black four-door honda civic), locking it up and jogging towards the entrance. 

I know the match hasn’t started yet, and the boys should be warming up right about now, but I still feel terrible for being late. I had to be, for I had business to do with a few of the agents I’ve been working with to keep my position in Tokyo on the down-low; I don’t need the press knowing where I am at all times. My mind races as I sprint through the front doors and into the main lobby, my bag bouncing against my hip as I go over every single play I had come up with last second in my head.

Blinded by my own thoughts, I collide with an unsuspecting person, sending us both flying into the floor. I clumsily land on top of them, their body beneath me cushioning my landing, both of their hands clutching my elbows instinctively to keep me from flattening them beneath me. My bag hits the floor beside us, a couple of my binders of play strategies flying out of it. 

Groaning, I look down at my victim, eyes widening at who I currently lay on top of. “Ryoutacchi!”

No mistaking those blond locks. His large hands encase my forearms tightly as he blinks at me, recognition flashing through his eyes before he sits us up with a grin. “[Name]cchi! What a pleasant sur-.....”

I hastily move out of his lap and stand, brushing off my leggings before offering him a hand. I arch a brow at his wide eyes and sudden loss of words. “What is it, Ryoutacchi?”

He gawks up at me from where he sits on the floor, stumbling over his own tongue as his face flushes into a deep shade of red. “W-What did you-.... You called me… [Name]cchi… YOU’RE SO UNBELIEVABLY CUTE!”

My breath hitches as he takes my hand and I pull him up, in which he immediately tugs me into a bone crushing hug, lifting me off the ground and humming delightfully. As I struggle to breathe, much less formulate words, a sudden force sends Kise flying, in which I double over and finally gulp down sweet oxygen again. I look up at my savior, finding none other than Kasamatsu to be standing over me, brows furrowed and leg still in the air after having kicked his teammate a few feet away.

“Yuki-senpai!” I beam brightly, easily gaining his attention. 

His eyes widen at the nickname, his cheekbones somewhat rosy. “[N-Name]-san!?”

I greet him with a friendly hug, in which he doesn’t know how to react. Therefore, his entire body goes stiff as I wrap my arms around his waist, my head against his chest, seeing as he’s a solid 5-6 inches taller than me. I don’t make him suffer the quick embrace for long, backing off swiftly with a friendly smile.

“It’s great to see you again! Have you come to watch the match? Have you been well?” I fire off a few friendly questions.

“Y-Y-Yes, I-I’ve been v-very well…” he barely stutters, seeming somewhat dazed before snapping himself out of it. “U-Uh, and yes! K-Kise and I h-have come to watch S-Seirin play in the Semi-Finals.”

I clap happily as Kise finally gets back up, glowering at his captain for kicking him yet again. “That’s so exciting! Thank you both so much for your support! It means a lot! I’ll be sure to tell the team that you’re here!”

“Of course we came, [Name]cchi!” The copycat smiles, hand on his hip. “Wouldn’t miss you and Kurokocchi for the world.”

“Oi, [Name]-san, wait!” Kasamatsu calls after me as I wave, about to head down to the court. I face him, arching a brow; I soon come to the realization when he holds up my black bag, having collected all my binders and put them back inside for me. “H-Here. You don’t want to forget this.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Yuki-senpai!” I laugh giddily, taking it from him and throwing it over my shoulder. “You’re a real lifesaver; I wouldn’t be able to live without my playbooks, much less if someone found them and leaked them to the press. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really am late. Thanks again, you two! Bye Ryoutacchi, bye Yuki-senpai!”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The two Kaijo starters watch as [Name] canters off, [H/L] hair bouncing behind her all the way until she whips around the corner, out of sight. Neither one of them speaks until they can no longer see her anymore, and even a moment after that, neither utters a word. 

Kise is first to break the silence, staring at the last spot he saw her before she ran off. “She called me Ryoutacchi…. We’re already on a first name basis and I wasn’t even aware… she called me my own nickname, Kasamatsucchi! No one’s ever called me by my own nickname before! Isn’t she the cutest!? Isn’t she!?-..”

“Stop your rambling, you dunce!” Kasamatsu growls, punching the blond in the shoulder. However, no matter how hard he fights it, a blush crawls up to his face at the thought of the girl. Of her smile… He nearly fainted when she hugged him, and he had sworn to himself that he’d never do that in front of her. He’d be so embarrassed for such an amazing basketball player to see him like that. But when she does such innocent things like that….

“Hey! That really hurts, Kasamatsucchi!” Kise whines, rubbing the spot he was hit before looking at him with puppy eyes; only when he sees the state his captain is in does Kise’s eyes widen. “Captain, you’re blushing… Don’t tell me it’s ‘cause [Name]cchi gave you a nickname, too?”

Kasamtsu’s brows furrow as his face flushes a deeper shade of magenta, threatening to hit him again. By the look on Kise’s face, Kasamatsu sighs and backs off, folding his arms and looking away stubbornly, his glare melting away. “...She called me Yuki-senpai…”

The teen model grins stupidly, jumping up and down in circles around his teammate. “Oh, I can’t believe it! You think she’s cute, don’t you!? I think she’s so cute! I hope [Name]cchi likes us as much as she seems she does… Or do you think she’s just being nice because of sportsmanship, and all that? Oh, I hope not… I really want to be her friend! Do you think she likes me, Kasamatsucchi…?”

“Not if you keep running your mouth like an imbecile!” Kasamatsu jumps up, whacking him over the head before collecting his cool once more. He begins walking towards the concession stand, where they were intending on going earlier, before running into [Name]. “Now hurry up. The line is long and at this rate, we’ll miss the start of the game by the time we buy our drinks.”

Meanwhile, there are two courts busy with warmups and surrounded by a stadium full of people who’d come to watch the first matches of the semi-finals. Two different kings play on either court; Shutoku on one and Seiho -- playing Seirin -- on the other. During warm ups, Kagami catches a ball after it falls through the rim, pausing before dribbling it back to line up. Instead, his gaze shifts the court over, where Shutoku was also warming up. His eyes narrow at the back of Midorima’s head. Feeling his gaze, the green haired sharp shooter meets Kagami’s glare with an equal one of his own.

Their staredown continues until interrupted by a foot in the back of Kagami’s head. Yelping in pain, he stumbles a few steps and grabs the back of his head, barely keeping himself from flopping onto the floor. The ball he drops bounces a few meters away before picked up by Kuroko, who casually holds onto it. Grumbling under his breath, Kagami turns to see who his attacker is, only to find his manager, hands on her hips and fuming beside Hyuga.

“You’re focusing on the wrong competition, moron,” she tells him, her voice surprisingly calm and lacking the bite he expected. “No matter how hard you stare, you’ll still look like an idiot if we lose this first game.”

“I was only looking at him!” Kagami retorts, glancing back at Midorima to find him now watching [Name]. Once Kagami’s eyes narrow at him for staring at her, he nonchalantly turns away, continuing his warmups as if nothing happened. Kagami slowly turns back to [Name] and Hyuga. “Trust me. I’m more than focused on this game.”

The three players and their manager simultaneously all turn to sneak a glance at their competition while they warm up. Intimidating, they are indeed. They wear their black warm ups. One player that sticks out in particular, mostly due to the fact that he towers over the rest of his team, is Tsutomu Iwamura. He’s 6’2 and 192 pounds of pure muscle mass, straight faced as the Seirin team gawks at him.

[Name], however, doesn’t linger over him for too long. “Yes, Tsutomu is a solid wall of brute force, but don’t forget the rest of this team. Their playmaker is Ryuhei Kasuga, the point guard. Him and Tsutomu are both third years and together, the absolute core of Seiho’s team. Don’t underestimate them.”

After heeding his manager’s information, Kagami turns to return to warm ups. He’s stopped by someone calling out to him, however. “Hey! You’re Kagami, right?”

Glancing over his shoulder, said ace meets the eyes of Tomoki Tsugawa, the bald boy from the tapes [Name] made him review the other week. He side glances at him. “Yeah.”

Tsugawa’s childlike smile grows wider as he points him out to Tsutomu. “Wow, your hair is so red! Scary! Hey, captain! Seirin seems to be a really weak team, but they’ve got at least one really strong guy.”

[Name] deadpans at the boy’s idiocy, screaming something so stupid across an entire court in front of both teams. A tingling on the back of her neck, she steals a glance over her shoulder to see Riko seething, an ominous aura seeping from her form as Hyuga holds her back from completely killing this kid. [Name], however, keeps her cool and makes herself known in the conversation by stepping beside Kagami. Not only does she want to insert herself into the situation to take a stand, but to also ensure Kagami doesn’t do anything stupid.

As soon as Tsugawa lays his eyes on her, however, he immediately shifts his attention away from the ace to the manager. “Woah! Are you this team's manager!? You’re really pretty, and you look like you work out a bit. Are you a first year? Are you dating any of these losers? Do you-..!?”

Before [Name] can open her mouth to say anything to retort, however, Tsutomu does it for her, slapping Tsugawa over the head mercilessly. “Quit messing around, you idiot. I apologize for anything stupid that this dunce has said to you. Especially to you, miss. He doesn’t seem to think about what he’s going to say before he opens his big mouth.”

“No need to apologize,” Hyuga comes over to join the conversation, captain-to-captain, with a hand on [Name]’s shoulder in what she assumes to be an effort at a comforting gesture. “We’re going to win, after all. If you look down on us like you did last year, you’ll end up in tears.”

Tsutomu isn’t phased by Hyuga’s confidence, however. “That won’t happen. Besides, we weren’t looking down on you. You were just weak. That is all.”

Kagami’s brow twitches at the third year’s words as he begins dragging Tsugawa away by his collar, who whines obnoxiously. “Cap', how come you can be so mean but still hit me every time I ever say anything!? It’s not fair!”

“You idiot, I’m not mean; I simply don’t sugar coat my words,” is all [Name] can catch him respond with as he drags the bald boy out of eavesdropping distance. She narrows her eyes at the back of their heads, burning holes into them. Kuroko notices the fire dancing in her [E/C] irises, peaking his curiosity as he approaches her.

“Are you talked to like that often, [Nickname]-chan?” he asks, barely gaining her attention.

“Huh?” she barely processes what he’s said, turning to face him and blinking several times before tilting her head. “Talked to like what?”

He shrugs. “With disrespect.”

Her brows furrow a bit. “I’m unsure of what you mean. Neither of those boys were rude to me. However, to our upperclassmen, they most definitely were. And if I’m going to be honest, I’m not very happy about that.”

“[Name]-chan! Kuroko-kun!” At the sound of their names being called, they both turn to look at Riko, waving them over. “C’mon! We’re having a pregame meeting in the locker room.”

Without hesitation, [Name] jogs over to join her at the door leading out of the court, clutching onto her bag as she runs. Kuroko, however, lingers as he watches her go, eyes glued to her, though there isn’t a spec of emotion hinted on his face. With a shallow sigh --a sharp expulsion of air from his nostrils--, he sets the ball he holds aside and follows after her.

Meanwhile, still waiting in line at the concession stands, Kasamatsu glances over at Kise beside him, who’s engulfed in the podcast he seems to be listening to on his phone, air pods in either ear. The third year arches his brow, speaking a bit louder than normal to gain his attention. “What are you looking at?”

Kise removes one air pod to talk to him. “A recording of this morning’s Oha Asa. It’s their morning horoscope. When this thing’s good, Midorimacchi is good; it’s never been wrong before.”

“Really? Sounds kinda stupid, if you ask me-...” Kasamatsu begins to roll his eyes before Kise immediately shushes him, handing him the other air pod.

“Shh! This is Cancer’s horoscope for today! That’s Midorimacchi’s sign! Listen!” despite how ridiculous it may be, Kasamatsu plays along and listens to the prediction carefully.

“Congratulations! Cancers are in first place for today! You will have no complaints and your plans for the day will fly by without a hitch! Very little can stand in your way, for luck is very much on your side for the next twenty-four hours. Last place, however, sadly goes to Aquarius. Play it quiet today-...”

Kise cringes, removing the air pod from his ear as he peers gravely at Kasamatsu. The charcoal haired point guard arches a brow. “What is it?”

“This isn’t looking good for Seirin…” Kise states grimly.

In the Seiho dressing room, the captain, Tsutomu, laces up one of his shoes. “What was your impression of Seirin’s team, Kasuga?”

Said play maker smiles his never ending smile. “We should probably keep an eye on that first year, Kagami.”

In contrast to Seiho’s lax nature, the tension in the Seirin changing room is very high. No one speaks, no one smiles; the boys lace up their shoes and change into their uniforms as [Name] sits in the corner on the floor, her back against lockers and her laptop against her thighs, criss-crossed and knees leaning against the bench. With earbuds in her ears, she thoroughly scrutinizes the footage she downloaded onto her computer of Seiho film, analyzing their playstyle one last time.

Riko narrows her eyes at the tension before clapping her hands to gain everyone’s attention, ready to lighten the mood. She gains it from everyone except for [Name], too far engulfed in her footage. “You’re all a little too uptight. I know just the thing that will cheer you up and motivate you to play this game!”

Hyuga deadpans at her, worried she’ll say something stupid. “Which is?”

She giggles flirtatiously, speaking in a dreamy voice. “If you win this game against Seiho, [Name]-chan will give all of you a kiss on the cheek.”

Although deaf by the fact her earbuds blocked out all noise aside from her film, [Name] can still detect when the attention of a room shifts to her. Glancing up from her screen, she finds all eyes on her, and she pauses her video. Although having been focused elsewhere, [Name] takes a minute and thinks back and processes what Riko had said, eyes widening when she gets it.

She vigorously begins shaking her head as Koga and Izuki both smirk, Hyuga blushing and gritting his teeth at Riko’s giggling. “No, no, no. Whatever she said, I never agreed to it. It’s not happening. Koga-senpai, get away from me, it’s just not happening.”

“Why are you laughing, Coach?” Izuki deadpans as Riko rolls on the floor at [Name]’s response.

“Because she can’t be serious,” Koga smirks. “Just a kiss on the cheek? That’s such a tease. [Name]-chan has to agree to going on a full date with me when we win.”

Said manager now stands from her cramped position in the corner, now waving her hands desperately over her head. “I NEVER AGREED TO ANY OF THIS!”

“You idiots, I’m only kidding!” Riko gets over herself, wiping a tear of joy from her eye. “[Name]-chan’s not giving you a kiss, but you have to admit, the mood is a bit lighter in here, yeah? You guys were way too tense earlier. Now, let’s get it together and focus on this game in a positive attitude, got it? Don’t you want to pay them back for last year!? It’s got to be quite a lot with a year’s worth of interest!”

“Yes, yes, we know, we know,” Hyuga smiles, calming her down now that she’s shifted into full hype man mode before facing the team as a whole. “All right. Before we start, I’ll tell you all again. I’m sure you’ll feel it as soon as the game starts, but first years, prepare yourselves for the worst. After last year’s massive defeat, we hated basketball so much that we all nearly quit… Don’t be so gloomy! I’m confident we’ve become strong enough to be sure that will never happen again. Now, let’s get out there and show them not to underestimate Seirin High!”

“Right!” come the chorus of cheers from the team as they stand up and head out of the locker room together. [Name] stays behind to gather up the rest of her things.

Kagami hums and comes to a stop when he notices a very faint presence to stick behind as well, just outside of the door. He turns to face Kuroko, expecting the daydreaming individual to ask him something important, based on his expression.

His prediction is correct. Kuroko doesn’t even glance at him before asking, “Kagami-kun, have you ever hated basketball?”

The ace arches his brow at the sudden question. “What? No, I can’t say that I have.”

Kuroko nods at his answer. “I have.”

Kagami’s eyes widen ever so slightly, and he waits for the bluette to continue, a hand in his pants pocket. “What do you mean?”

“When I spoke with Midorima-kun, I told him that the past and future aren’t the same, but they aren’t completely separate, either. I think this game is important for our seniors so that they can get over the past; therefore, it’s in our best interest to win this upcoming game. And for that reason alone, I really want to win today.”

Kagami blinks, taking in Kuroko’s words with utmost heed, although they didn’t technically answer his question. Just as he’s about to respond to the statement, the door to the locker room flings open, [Name] stumbling out as she continues to stuff papers and writing utensils back into her bag, a couple pens held between her teeth. Kuroko steadies her, keeping her from tripping over herself as she spits the pen out of her mouth into her bag along with the rest of her papers in a hurry.

“Hey, what’re you two still doing here!? The game’s about to start!” she scolds, regaining her balance and bolting towards the court. “C’mon!”

The two starters glance at each other, no words spoken between them as they simultaneously run after the girl.


	5. Seiho

Kise and Kasamatsu return to the stadium with their drinks, aware that the game has started without them. Their eyes widen, however, at the sight of the scoreboard. Nearly four minutes in and Seirin still hasn’t scored, the score being 0-12 in Seiho’s favor.

“What...?” the blond breathes, nearly dropping his diet coke.

“Whoa, seriously!?” Kasamatsu gapes, scratching the shaved strip through his eyebrow.

[Name] sits at the end of the bench, brows furrowed in deep concentration as she watches Tsugawa marking Kagami with a wicked grin on his face. Rightfully so, seeing as Kagami couldn’t break past him, no matter how hard he tries. 

Izuki notices this as well. “Kagami-kun, you’re holding the ball too long! Pass it!”

The redhead does as his vice captain tells him and tosses him the ball, screening off Ryuhei so that Izuki could drive through and past Tsugawa as well. He goes for a simple layup, determined to finally score their first points in the first quarter, only to have his dreams crushed by Tsutomu. The center smacks the ball away before it can reach the rim, denying Izuki his two points. He winces, thinking he had been wide open for the shot.

[Name]’s eyes narrow as she scans the court, pupils gleaming as she softly bites her index finger. Their defense is so tight; though, she should expect nothing less of a top Tokyo team. However, she had expected for Seirin to adjust to it by now, even if just slightly. 

Kagami in possession with the ball once again faces Tsugawa. Yoshikasu Ōmurō, Seiho’s power forward, laughs cockily at his teammate as he himself marks Hyuga. “Tsugawa-kun, it’s fine if you’re excited, but don’t wear yourself out before the second half!”

The bald boy grins. “I’m fine! They’re not as good as I thought, so this should be easy!”

Kagami growls, pushing past the boy roughly. [Name] sneers in disappointment, rolling her eyes as the ref blows his whistle. “Charging! White No. 10!”

Riko jumps up from the bench, grumbling under her breath as she glares at Kagami, who isn’t even aware he fouled Tsugawa. The coach clenches her fists, grinding her jaw as she glowers, “Just how easily does that idiot get angry!?”

“Kagami-kun! Calm down!” Koga advises from the bench. 

Hyuga’s eye twitches as he stares at Seiho’s starters, none of them showing any signs of concern for this match. Somehow their movements are impossible to play against. He thought that the Generation of Miracles, with the exception of [Name], were the only ones capable of shutting down Kagami. Seirin can’t even make a successful pass without putting Kuroko in the game; however, he can’t be put in the whole game, or his effectiveness will eventually wear out. 

As Kuroko catches the ball, he turns to make a pass, eyes widening when he can’t find any. Every single one of his teammates is closely marked, man-to-man defense. Not a single path open for him to take, he’s forced to hold onto the ball, rendering him almost useless as he surrenders his misdirection by doing so.

[Name]’s breath hitches as she watches Ryuhei dive in front of Izuki to mark him, denying any lane for Kuroko to pass. However, this play isn’t what peaks her attention. It’s his movements, how his arms and legs work in unison. Taking a sweeping look over the court, she then notices that the rest of the Seiho team is working this way, too. She stands abruptly from the bench, surprising her whole team with the sudden movement.

“[Name]-chan…?” Koga breathes when he sees her eyes fade back to [E/C].

“Riko-chan, call a timeout,” she requests sternly.

Without any hesitation, Riko listens to her skilled manager, trusting that whatever she has in mind will be imperative to winning this game. As the players who were just on the court get some water and towels, they circle around [Name], who kneels on the ground before them. They await her words of wisdom impatiently.

She glances over them all, expression serious. “Seiho uses old martial arts techniques; I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed them until now. It was a big mistake on my part for not catching them in the tapes when I went over them, though the movements are subtle.”

“Old martial arts techniques?” Kagami repeats, toweling off the back of his neck before performing a borderline racist karate chop movement. “You mean like this kind of thing?”

She deadpans at him. “No. I’m talking about their movements on the court. To be precise, they incorporate movements taken from old martial arts. One of these techniques that they use is called ‘namba running’. When you run normally, your arms and legs move in opposite directions from one another; when you step with your left leg, your right arm swings forward, et cetera. When namba running, however, your arms and legs move together simultaneously. This reduces stress on muscles.”

Up by the railing of the balcony, Kasamatsu seems to have noticed this, too, explaining it to Kise. “Apparently, by avoiding the movement of twisting, you reduce the strain on your body and the energy that you spend.”

“You know a lot about this,” Kise admits softly.

“I took a couple martial arts classes as a kid,” Kasamatsu huffs, somewhat embarrassed before getting over it rather quickly. “Still, they’re an unusual team.”

Both Kaijo boys direct their attention to the Seirin team, watching as [Name] sternly talks to her team in the center of a huddle, lips forming words that they couldn’t make out from such a distance. Kagami tunes her out somewhat, as well, even though he’s barely a foot away from her. He gets lost in his own head, glaring into space at the thought of beating such a difficult team.

[Name]’s voice eventually snaps him back to existence. “...but it’s not like they can fly or just disappear. They’re only human, after all. They’ll fall for fakes and lose their balance if you catch them off guard. Namba running has its downfalls. They’re playing the same basketball that the rest of you are. This isn’t over yet.”

Just as the manager finishes her speech, the whistle blows for the players to return to court. The five are about to head in, [Name] collecting their towels and water bottles, when Kagami approaches Izuki. “Izuki-senpai.”

“Hm?” the second year faces Kagami as he stretches his arm.

“Could you pass me the ball?” he requests. “Let me go against Tsugawa again.”

Izuki smirks. “Do you have a plan?”

Kagami shakes his head. “No. But he’s only human, too, right? I just have to be faster than him.”

Izuki’s smug expression falls. “What are you saying? Are you sure that will work?”

“We’ll just have to trust him,” Kuroko supposes at his side as Kagami walks off without an answer.

As the game resumes, Izuki follows through with Kagami’s request and the ball finds the ace’s hands before anyone else’s. And in the blink of an eye, Tsugawa is already all over Kagami, doing everything in his ability to block Kagami off from the basket.

“One-on-one?” the bald player becomes ecstatic. “Bring it on!”

“I don’t care about your stupid martial arts or whatever. Basketball is basketball!” Kagami crosses to his left before immediately crossing to his right. His fake isn’t too successful but his speed is. Before Tsugawa can return from dipping to the right, Kagami is already past him as he’s diving back to the left. And with every other Seiho player busy marking the rest of his teammates, Kagami beelines for the hoop and slams the ball through, dunking Seirin’s first two points in the first quarter.

In a blur of movement, the Seirin team jumps from their bench and cheers jubilantly, their voices echoing across the entire court. Sans [Name], who remains seated on the bench, though, her lips curl upward into a small smile. Kise and Kasamtsu, now seated, can’t help but cheer a bit on the inside at the shot.

“This game’s finally getting started,” the latter thinks aloud as Kise smiles.

Ryuhei glances at Tsugawa. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen anyone get past you.”

In response, the bald boy only chuckles darkly. “The fun and the pain is only getting started.”

Kise can’t help but take a moment to glance over at his other former teammate’s game as the Shutoku section bursts into cheers. Midorima must’ve scored another one of his miracle three-pointers before his coach subs him out. “They’re benching him after only five minutes? Those guys seem to be taking it easy.”

Kasamatsu eyes the orange team for a moment before shaking his head. “I could care less about that game, right now. We already know it’s outcome. We should focus on Seirin’s.”

“Ah, right. Sorry…”

[Name] cringes when Kagami commits a shooting foul, reaching in on Tsugawa as he goes for a layup. That’s his third foul already, and it isn’t even second half. [Name] notices that this team isn’t as fast as she originally thought they were as she was watching them make passes. They simply look quick due to their lack of additional movements; perhaps another technique they picked up from martial arts.

“I thought Seirin’s engine was finally running when Kagamicchi scored,” Kise sighs, leaning against his palm. “But they haven’t managed to take another step.”

“You can’t call yourself a king just for playing good defense,” Kasamatsu reminds him, his arms folded. “Seiho’s offense is rather exceptional, too. They aren’t a team of prodigies like you or Kagami. They’re a team of experts.”

Kise laughs softly, eyeing two certain shorties in Seirin uniform. “There are some experts on Seirin, too.”

Five minutes into the first quarter and there’s still a nine point difference in Seiho’s favor. This isn’t a very high scoring game, each team struggling to get baskets against the other. Defense is key against Seiho just as much as offense is. Kuroko eyes the scoreboard as the ball bounces out of bounds, his expression stern. Tsugawa notices this, patting his shoulder.

“Don’t let it get you down. By this late into the game last year, we were already twenty points ahead of your team! At least you don’t suck as much as they did, yeah?” the boy saunters off, jubilantly humming to himself, unaware of the poison behind his words.

Kuroko radiates a deadly aura, eyes curtained behind his hair as he glares at his sneakers. “Fine.”

More determined than ever, Izuki sets up a bounce pass down the court, one that looks like it will directly reach Ryuhei’s palms. Said point guard grins at the mistake, reaching for the ball only for it to disappear right in front of him. Kuroko streaks across the court, swinging the ball around his body and hurling it straight to Mitobe’s chest. The center makes the jump shot with ease, scoring another two points to Seiho’s dismay.

“What was that pass? It swung around our defense like a boomerang!” Ryuhei gasps under his breath before running back to assist in the counterattack. As he swerves around Izuki and goes for his own jump shot, Kagami smacks it out of his hands from behind, the ball bouncing off the backboard and into Izuki’s grasp. In which the vice captain takes all the way down the court himself and hook shots behind Tsutomu, raising the score to 16-19 in Seiho’s favor.

Kuroko tips the ball out of Tsugawa’s hold at half court from behind, Kagami scooping it up with haste and passing it to Hyuga. The second year captain takes it to the perimeter and scores one of his clutch three pointers, earning Seirin their third basket in a row while depriving Seiho of any, tying up the game before the end of the first quarter.

[Name] can’t help but beam as her boys walk off the court after first quarter, giddily handing them their towels and water bottles as they sit on the bench. This time, however, she doesn’t take the floor. She lets their coach take the stage all to herself.

Riko kneels before them as they sit on the bench. “This game is only just getting started. Keep the formation as it is. You’re still being led by their passes too much, so keep an eye out for openings. Remember to play offensively!”

Players return to court, [Name] returns to the bench. As Kagami begins with possession of the ball, Tsugawa’s already all over him, more determined than before. “You aren’t getting past me again.”

“Their defense is even tighter…” Furihata thinks aloud. “Tokyo’s best defensive team is finally running at full power.”

Kagami admits to himself that he can’t get past Tsugawa on his own; not in a one-on-one. However, when he catches a streak of blue run past him in the corner of his eyes, he comes to the realization that he doesn’t have to beat him alone. Instead, he bounces the ball between Tsugawa’s legs and ducks past him in the opposite direction. Surprised, Tsugawa turns to follow the ball only to find it slapped away by Kuroko instantly.

The pass goes behind Tsugawa’s back and Kagami reaches out to snag it, driving it towards the hoop. His path is immediately blocked by Tsutomu, and he pulls the ball to his chest. For Kuroko is already running in on the left, prepared to assist Kagami in making the first shot of the second quarter. The redhead tosses the ball to his left, in which the bluette palms and forcefully passes into the floor, setting Kagami up for an alley-oop. 

Said ace takes the ball mid jump and slams it through the hoop with his right hand, hanging for half a second before hopping down, crouching a bit as he lands. He and Kuroko nod at one another respectively, both of them breathing heavy. Tsugawa wipes some sweat from his wide eyes, still trying to figure out where No. 11 even came from, having done nothing memorable in the first quarter.

Kasamatsu gawks at the play from his seat. “They managed to make it past that defense?”

Kise can’t help but grin. “They’re even more in tune with each other than they were before.”

“Indeed,” Kasamtsu gazes down at the two. “However, there’s one thing that bothers me. That’s way too much sweat for the second quarter.”

As if she could hear Kasamatsu’s concern, [Name] glances at Kagami, noticing his fatigue instantly. Her eyes narrow at Kuroko as well, his shoulders heaving. They’re over exerting themselves too early in the game. 

Hyuga takes the ball down the court, stopping mid dribble and pulling the ball back, breaking Yoshikasu’s ankles before he passes the ball to Kagami. He turns around, expecting Tsugawa to be breathing down his neck, only to find him two arms lengths away. He doesn’t like the change in pace at all; their lack of pressure set him uneasy. Having not realized in time the distance between him and Tsugawa, he accidentally charges into him, earning himself an offensive foul.

[Name] scowls at Kagami’s fourth foul into the game. His reckless nature is going to screw the whole team over if he keeps this up. Kagami’s eyes widen before he glares down at Tsugawa, crouching on the floor from where he fell, who grins up at him like a maniac. Now he realizes why he hadn’t been marking him; he wanted that to happen. He purposely stepped back so that Kagami would charge him.

And he took the bait like a fool.

“It’s only the second quarter…” Kawohara reminds the bench in a whisper.

Koga ruffles up his own hair in frustration. “That moron!”

Riko, having been eerily silent, stands and walks over to the officials table, raising her hand up to gain their attention. “Excuse me. I’d like to make a substitution.”

At the sound of her words, Kagami breaks out of his revengeful stupor and gasps. “No! I’ll be fine! I just have to make sure I don’t get any more fouls, right!? I can do it!”

“No,” Hyuga insists, scratching the back of his head. “In fact, this all kind of works out, anyway. We were planning on subbing both you and Kuroko out regardless.”

Kuroko’s eyes widen, not having expected to be grouped in with Kagami for the substitution in the first place. “Me, too?”

“We decided before the game started you two would only be playing in the first half. As [Name]-san predicted, Shutoku has already subbed Midorima out in order to conserve his strength on the court over. We can’t beat them if you two are spent.”

“But if we lose this game, we won’t even have the chance to-...”

“Kagami-kun,” Kuroko raises his voice over Kagami before he can retort. “Let’s do as they say.”

“Wha-...!?” Kagami gawks at his ‘shadow’ in disbelief.

The bluette side eyes him carefully. “I trust our senpais.”

Hyuga nods. “As you should. There’s no need to worry. We’ll beat Seiho.”

“Seirin member change!”

“I haven’t played in forever!” Tsuchida stretches his arms over his head cheerfully as he and Koga stroll onto the court in stead for Kuroko and Kagami.

Tsugawa moans in disappointment. “Man, I wanted to keep playing Kagami. Well, it’s a little disappointing, but whatever!”

Hyuga glares daggers at the bald shooting guard. “Quit running your mouth, you little shit. I’m going to teach you how to talk to your seniors, baldy.”

Tsugawa reels back in fear of Hyuga’s icy glare, glasses glinting in the light, not daring to speak back to him after that. From the bench on the other court, Takao’s breath hitches, catching Midorima’s attention beside him. “Seirin benched their first year pair. Do you think they’re throwing the match?”

Following his teammate’s gaze, Midorima sees that Kuroko and Kagami both sit on the bench beside [Name], who watches her own match intently. He then follows her gaze to watch the Seirin captain, Hyuga, dribble under the net and jump up for a layup, only to be blocked by a two man wall. Having drawn attention to himself, he sneakily tosses the ball back to Mitobe, their loyal center.

“No, they’re doing just the opposite,” Midorima shakes his head, watching as Mitobe calmly dunks the ball into the hoop. “They intend to win.”

Tsutomu recognizes Mitobe’s skill as a fellow center, and faces him respectfully. “I accept your challenge. Bring it on.”

Mitobe, remaining silent, simply looks him in the eyes and nods. Hyuga stands at his side. “We won’t hold back. Let’s go, Seiho!”

Kise watches from above as the upperclassmen hash it out with Seiho without the assistance of Kagami or Kuroko. “They’re going at it harder than I expected.”

“This seems to be working a lot better than before. And I’ve noticed that their key player is the guy I matched up against in our match,” Kasamatsu adds.

“It’s not their captain?” Kise questions.

Kasamatsu shakes his head. “Hyuga may be their mental core, but he leaves making plays up to their point guard. He most likely has another eye.”

Kise, intrigued by his captain’s words, watches said point guard hold up a single finger to call out to his team. Izuki dribbles in place, his eyes glinting from steel gray to cool silver. “One! Let’s be careful!”

In the blink of an eye, he tosses the ball to Hyuga and swiftly dips past Ryuhei. As Hyuga’s mark chases after him, Ryuhei swerves around to chase after Izuki; however, their paths collide and so do they, making Izuki wide open. Hyuga, therefore, passes him the ball and the point guard makes an easy layup, smirking at his own magnificent play.

Kagami stares at his vice captain in awe. “How the hell did he do that?”

[Name] catches the faint whisper under his breath, even though she’s pretty sure he didn’t intend for anyone to hear it. “He has the eagle eye.”

“Eagle eye?” Kagami arches a brow and looks down at her at his side. Her words catch Kuroko’s interest, too, as he leans around the large ace to look at her.

She nods. “Izu-chan’s not particularly the most athletic, but he can change his point of view instantaneously inside his own head. And because he can see everything from all angles, he always has a bird’s eye view of the entire court and where each player stands on it. Therefore, he knows when each person is open and who the best people are to pass to. That’s why he makes such an excellent point guard and playmaker.”

Izuki, still giddy from his moment of fame, runs after Hyuga to defend; more like skipping like a child. “It’d be nice if you’d call that a nice shot, cap!”

Hyuga, however, ignores his playful behavior. “Do you want to be subbed out already? Go die.”

With that being said, Izuki comes to a halt, deadpanning at his teammate. “Die?”

[Name] can’t help but giggle, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Well done, Izu-chan!”

This seems to cheer him up and he waves at her happily. “Thanks [Nickname]-chan! I still expect a kiss on the cheek when I win this game!”

“In your dreams,” she rolls her eyes, but smiles, nonetheless.

“Do Koganei-senpai and Tsuchida-senpai have special skills, too!?” the rest of the first years clamor over each other in hopes [Name] has something otherworldly to say about them, too. However, she merely gazes at Riko for help.

The coach blinks, scraping her mind for literally anything to say about the two. “Um, yeah… Koganei-kun can shoot from all ranges, but his accuracy is only so-so!”

Kagami scoffs as Koga misses a basket from the perimeter. “Doesn’t that make him pretty normal?”

“What are you doing!?” Tsuchida scolds, jumping up and snagging the rebound with ease. “Koganei-kun!”

“And Tsuchida-kun’s good at rebounding!” Riko adds cheerfully.

As said power forward passes the ball back to Koganei, the small forward goes for another jump shot, missing once again.

“Enough already!” Tsuchida snags the ball from the backboard before passing it to Izuki instead before he jumps up and down in a fit over Koga, who wallows in self pity on his hands and knees. “How do you miss two easy shots in a row!?”

By fourth quarter, the score is 49-54 in Seiho’s favor. A small gap for Seirin to fill. As the ball is smacked out of Tsuchida’s hands from behind by Tsugawa, no one moves to grab it as it’s heading out of bounds. However, a sudden burst of energy comes from Koga as he streaks across the court, diving out of bounds to grab the ball before it crosses the line. Gasping, [Name] throws herself forward and grabs Kagami’s shirt collar. Before he can even react, she lifts him up off the bench and shoves him aside, in which he takes Kuroko and the rest of the first down years with him. Now that they’re off the bench and Riko’s already standing, [Name] quickly kicks the bench aside in a screech of metal.

Just in the knick of time, too. Koga’s fingers curl around the ball and he hurls it back into play. However, the law of inertia won’t allow him to stop himself in time, and he stumbles over onto the ground, rolling a couple feet roughly, in which he would’ve smacked his head into the bench if it was still there. Luckily, [Name]’s quick thinking may have saved him from a major concussion.

Riko gasps. “Koganei-kun, are you okay!?”

[Name] kneels over him. “He’s definitely not. His eyes are spinning.”

“What about me!? [Name] just threw me like a fucking frisbee!” Kagami retorts.

Riko ignores the redhead on top of the dogpile of first years and joins her manager in looking over the second year. “You’re right. I think he may have a slight concussion. We’re going to need to sub him out.”

Kagami is quick to get over the anger he harbors towards his manager. “Oh! Let me play! Let me play! I want to-...”

Kuroko smacks his hand over Kagami’s mouth, deadpanning at the volume of his voice. “He needs to be subbed out, I agree. So the guy with four fouls should stay on the bench.”

Enraged, Kagami smacks Kuroko’s hand away and grabs a handful of his hair, fingers squeezing his skull. “What did you say, Kuroko!?”

The bluette doesn’t react to Kagami’s threat. “If you foul Tsugawa-kun again, you’ll just be thrown off the court. You wouldn’t be much of a help, then, would you? Don’t worry. I’ll beat Tsugawa-kun for you.”

“WHAT!? WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT DO!?” Kagami jumps up and down in frustration before shaking the bluette around a bit. “THERE’S NO POINT IF YOU BEAT HIM! I WANT TO BEAT HIM!”

With a swift kick to the shin, Kagami crumbles to the floor and stops yelling. Kuroko looks down at [Name] as she sighs, rubbing her temples. “Finally. He was giving me a headache. Now, Jun-senpai, you wouldn’t mind if Tetsu-kun subbed Koga-senpai out for the time being? I don’t want to risk an injury.”

The captain glances at the scoreboard and shrugs. “Sure. Seeing as Tsugawa is also a first year, it’s fair. I expect you to take him down, Kuroko.”

Before Kagami can get up and retort, [Name] grabs him by the ankle and drags him back over to the bench, which the other first years helped move back to its rightful place. Tsugawa doesn’t seem too impressed by the Seirin member change, looking Kuroko up and down with a hand on his hip.

“Oh, it’s just you?” he groans, crossing his arms stubbornly. “I wanted to play against Kagami.”

“Sorry, I may not be very strong,” Kuroko apologizes stoically. “But my teammate apparently has a grudge, so I’m here to pay it back. By proxy.”

Tsugawa arches a brow at Kuroko before beaming at him. “Alright, then. Omuro-kun, could I change marks?”

His teammate glances at him. “Huh? Why?”

Tsugawa smirks at Kuroko. “Well, it seems I’ve got a proxy here demanding payment.”

Kuroko’s blank expression never wavers as he gets into position. “Indeed. I will defeat you to support the upperclassmen that I look up to.”

Tsugawa lowers his stance to mark him as well, Seirin beginning with the ball in Izuki’s possession. Before Tsugawa can say a word back, Kuroko vanishes right before his eyes, causing him to almost stumble over in fright. Izuki immediately passes the ball to Kuroko as he runs down the court, in which the bluette knocks it over to Hyuga. The captain snags it and makes an easy layup, leaving Tsugawa still standing in shock over how Kuroko lost him so easily. However, this only fuels his determination even more than before as he jogs back down the court to help the counterattack.

Their counterattack doesn’t last for long, however, when Hyuga intercepts a pass and takes the ball down to the opposite side of the court. Tsutomu is already there to defend, but Hyuga makes no effort to go around him. Instead, he shoves the ball to his right and ducks around the center’s left. Kuroko’s already there to tap it into Mitobe’s hands as he drives through and makes his signature hook shot.

The Seiho coach notes the thorough understanding each Seirin member has of his teams play styles. He narrows his eyes at [Name] as she sits on the bench, smirking smuggly every time one of her players interferes with one of Seiho’s strategies successfully. He’s never seen anyone study his strategies so thoroughly before. Seirin got their hands on a very capable manager this year.

“Serin’s truly lucky that [Name]-san chose to manage their team out of all the schools in Japan,” Kasamatsu breathes as Seirin gains the upper hand.

“Hm? What do you mean?” Kise turns to look at his captain.

“Seirin simply wouldn’t have been able to do this without her. She’s conditioned them well by teaching them all of Seiho’s techniques and how to oppose them,” he begins to explain. “She must’ve watched hours of film in order to understand that applying those specialized movements to basketball is one of Seiho’s strengths; but, if you’re specialized, you’ve got habits. For example, normally, people will step towards the direction they’re heading as they start to move. Seiho, however, will have their lead foot pointed in the direction they’re planning on heading before they even begin to move. In other words, [Name]-san must’ve realized this, too, and ingrained it into her team’s minds in order to predict Seiho’s movements.”

“How could you possibly know all of that?” Kise praises him softly. “Just by watching them play?”

Kasamatsu blushes a bit as he nods towards the girl as she sits on the bench. “Call it a hunch. Besides, I mean, just look at how smug she is right now.”

Indeed, Kise follows Kasamatsu’s gaze, eyes widening at [Name]’s expression as she watches the game, her eyes gleaming and a small smirk playing her lips. He can’t help but smile along with her, her pride contagious. 

Pass after pass after pass, shot after shot after shot. Seirin is now dominating the court thanks to Kuroko’s misdirection and the determination of the upperclassmen. Kagami can’t help but watch in awe from the bench as Kuroko makes another dime pass, tossing it blindly over his shoulder to Mitobe, who takes it and dunks it.

“Amazing…” the redhead breathes. “Who knew Kuroko was this good?”

Riko arches a brow. “What do you mean? He’s always been like this.”

[Name] chortles, softly knocking Kagami in the back of the head. “It’s because it’s your first time watching him play from the sidelines, idiot. It’s different when you’re the one he’s passing to, huh?”

“S-Shut up!”

Thirty seconds left in the fourth quarter and Seirin finally pulls ahead, 70-69. No matter what, Seirin now had to defend Seiho from getting a buzzer beating basket. A sudden surge of adrenaline flows through Seiho’s captain, however, and Tsutomu forces his way down to the other end of the court, past a two-man wall and into the bucket with just fifteen seconds to spare.

“Don’t underestimate a king!” he exclaims, a newfound sense of rage soaring through him like the blood coursing through his veins. “You need ten more years of experience to beat us!”

“Full court man-to-man!?” Kise gasps, standing from his seat. “This isn’t looking good for Kurokocchi.”

Izuki growls as he keeps the ball away from Ryuhei as he’s pressured heavily in the closing seconds of the game. He grins as Mitobe screens for him, in which he spins around the player to drive inside. “Nice screen, Mitobe-kun! I’m impressed!”

With a simple bounce pass to Kuroko, the bluette moves to look for an open position. Tsugawa, however, dives into his field of vision, determination sparking in his gray eyes. Kise gasps. “Tsugawa!? How!?”

Kasamatsu also leans forward in anticipation. “He found him by calculating backwards from the pass course!”

[Name] curses under her breath and stands anxiously, simultaneously with Kagami beside her. In the position Kuroko is in, the only way he can hit the ball in time is with his left hand. The taller first year cups his hands around his mouth and cheers his shadow on. “Come on, Kuroko!”

Eyes wide, Kuroko swipes his left hand directly over the ball in a clean movement, opening his body up for more improvisation. Tsugawa’s eyes widen, for he expected to have Kuroko locked down by marking him on time; how the hell could he move so fast to fake a swipe with one hand and open his other hand up for the actual pass before the ball can even begin its descent towards the ground!?

Expressing no emotion, Kuroko immediately follows with his right, jabbing the ball directly towards Hyuga on his left rather than his original target, who’d been Mitobe across the court. Without any time to react, Seiho can only watch as Hyuga jumps up and makes a clean three, winning the game in the final second of the last quarter. It’s silent for just a millisecond as the buzzer sounds, concluding the match, before the entire Seirin team jumps up in pure bliss of the moment. 

The manager’s lips twitch up in a small smile as she watches her boys all cheering together in the center of the court, having made it through the first match of the semi-finals. A moment they deserve to celebrate; it isn’t an easy feat, to defeat one of the three kings of Tokyo.

She, however, can’t join them in the moment, for a certain someone reels over on the court, shoulders racking in slight sobs.

Tsugawa bites his lip as a small hand enters his vision. He looks up to find the same [H/C] haired Seirin manager from before, looking down at him kindly. “You played well. I wish you and your team the best of luck next year.”

He stares at her hand for a moment, contemplating on what to do with it before he jumps up abruptly, startling even [Name] a bit as her team realizes she’s being confronted by the reckless male. “Why!? This team didn’t even stand a chance last year! How the hell did they beat us!? We’re supposed to be the best! A king, damn it! Why!?”

Unsure of what to do, [Name] takes a step back and watches the Seiho first year shooting guard break down before her, tears streaming down his face. That is, until his third year captain comes along and takes him by the shoulder. “They were stronger. That’s all.”

With a glance towards [Name], Tsutomu nods respectfully; a gesture that she returns as the two walk away to rejoin their team. She turns around to face her own as they head over to the bench. Riko tears up at the fact that her second years got to redeem themselves from last year, biting her lip softly. 

Hyuga, noticing this, ruffles her short hair playfully in a comforting manner as he speaks to her in a whisper. “Keep it together, Coach. It’s not time to cry yet. You can be happy after we win the next championship game.”

Nodding, she smiles up at him, wiping away any remaining tears. “Right.”

Takao stretches as Shutoku wraps up their match on the court over, smirking at Midorima. “Another easy win. That’s no matter, however; at least they made it.”

The infamous shooting guard glances at the Seirin team as they regroup at their bench. “I can see that.”

Three people in particular, he notices, meet his gaze instantaneously. He narrows his eyes at the Seirin members, each of their glares in order being tenacious, poised, and calculating. He can’t help but let a smile slip past his lips as the manager’s eyes shimmer gold for a split second, a feeling of excitement bubbling in his chest as he impatiently awaits his next game.

As the rest of the Seirin team heads into the locker rooms for a bit of rest before their next match in a couple hours, Kuroko and Koga stop by the restroom to relieve themselves. Upon entering, a certain Shutoku player is washing his hands at the sink, nearly running into the bluette when he turns around. However, he stops himself with a small chuckle, facing the mirror as he dries his hands.

“Oh, sorry. I wasn’t paying attention,” Takao smirks as his reflection meets Kuroko’s eye.

Koga’s beady eyes trail after the Shutoku player as he strolls out of the bathroom, hands in his pockets and whistling softly under his breath. ‘How could he possibly notice Kuroko walking behind him…?’


	6. Shutoku

The hours between the Seiho game and the Shutoku game seem to creep over the members of Seirin ever-so-slowly while simultaneously all at once. They sit in their designated locker room, eating their lunches and chatting, but never breaking concentration. Their focus remains on the match ahead of them, which is bound to be more than tough. While the majority of them all sit on the benches and chat with one another about what they can expect, [Name] huddles up in her familiar corner, laptop propped up in her lap. She completely bores into the screen, the Shutoku film reflecting off of her [E/C] irises, wide-open and soaking in everything into her intricate mind that she possibly can last minute. One of her shoes taps on the side of a nearby bench as she nibbles on the pad of her thumb. No one dares disturb her. 

After what feels like an eternity of [Name] thoroughly going over the same plays over and over again, Hyuga cautiously approaches the girl and softly shakes her shoulder. Taking an AirPod out of her left ear, she glances up at him, blinking a few times when he informs her that there's thirty minutes until the jump ball. With a swift nod, [Name] hops up from her position and wheels over the nearest chalk board, beginning to go over all the last minute details about Shutoku to the team. Regardless of it feeling more like review than anything, all of [Name]’s playmaking and tactical brilliance really hypes them up to play their second king for today, as well as another Miracle. Restless for a second win, they head out to the court as a unified team.

Each team huddles up, and Hyuga gives the pep talk he’s been prepping for this match over the past few hours. “I expect us to play even harder than we did this morning. We don’t have to worry about bothersome bullshit like a game after this or conserving our energy. We can focus on the present, and the one thing that we have to do! We give everything we have until we can’t give any more!”

“Seirin, fight!” the team yells in unison before breaking the huddle, half of them heading to the bench and the other half donning the court. 

[Name] takes her seat, eyes narrowing at a certain redhead. She hadn’t expected him to be so quiet for a match she knows he’s been anticipating for weeks. It’s almost unsettling to see that he isn’t running his mouth off for once.

“I didn’t think you’d actually make it this far,” another conversation peaks her interest, and she peers over at the exchange going on between Midorima and Kuroko at half court. “But it ends here. Come. I will show you just how foolish your decision was.”

Kuroko cranes his neck to stare up at the tall male; he blinks, having only one thing to say in return. “We will not lose.”

Midorima’s brows furrow at his words, and he adjusts his specs a bit higher up the bridge of his nose. Without another word, he turns and heads to his side on the court, awaiting for the first quarter to finally begin.

He’s not the only one. Kise and Kasamatsu sit on the edge of their seats up in the stands above. The latter lowers his brows. “Will Seirin miraculously beat two kings in a row, or will Shutoku protect its rightful throne? The championship game…”

Kagami moves to say something to Midorima, but the former Miracle stops him before he can even speak. “There is no reason for me to talk to someone who played such a pathetic game only hours ago. If you have anything to say, you can show it to me through your play.”

Although irritated at first, Kagami smirks at him. “Right back at you. Just thinking about it makes me mad at myself. I’ve got tons of pent up frustrations, so let’s do this already. I turned it all into fighting spirit, and I’ve been saving it for you. So bring it on; we’ll beat you.”

[Name] rolls her eyes, snickering to herself. “Ah, there he is.”

Midorima scowls at him. “What did you say...?”

“Do your worst.”

When the whistle blows, Kagami ultimately wins the jump ball, smacking it back to Mitobe, who quickly hands it off to Izuki. Remember back on what [Name] suggested for him to do as his first play, he turns to try and find an immediate target, only to find everyone is marked. He curses under his breath. He was going to do as his manager said and go for an immediate run-and-gun for a quick shot, but there are no gaps in their defense.

“One! Take care!” Kawohara warns Izuki, but Riko shakes her head.

“No! We attack them in the first quarter!” she denies. “You have to greet them by taking them by storm!”

With that being said, Kuroko disappears into thin air, leaving his mark completely flabbergasted as to where he could’ve gone. Izuki takes note of this and continues his former play, tossing Kuroko the ball. The small forward gets his hand below it and hurls it up towards the hoop. Kagami responds to the alley-oop and moves to slam it into the rim in order to gain Seirin the first two points of the game.

“That’s the same thing they did against me,” Kise realizes with wide eyes. “An identical alley-oop.”

Midorima, however, attended that practice match, and anticipated the play beforehand. He jumps up and smacks the ball from Kagami’s palm, denying him the shot. The ball bounces into Takao’s grasp, who takes it with a smirk. “I knew you could do it, Shin-chan!”

Riko had to stand up from her seat on the bench in utter shock. “How did he block that!?”

Midorima scoffs at the redhead condescendingly. “How disappointing. You think you can beat us with that?”

Takao quickly takes it down the court, making a clean pass behind his back to Kimura Shinsuke, their third year power forward, who then jumps for a quick layup. Thankfully, Seirin’s faithful second year captain is barely there in time to stop it from making the hoop. In the first seconds of the entire game, either team is letting the other know that they aren’t going down without a fight, and the whole crowd knows it, too. 

“Neither opponent can take control of the game,” Kasamatsu notes, glancing at the clock. 1:20 in. “Once one team gains dominance, it’s almost impossible for the opposing team to take it back within the same quarter. At this rate, whoever scores the first point will take the first quarter, and neither Seirin nor Shutoku is willing to give that up.”

Mitobe’s hookshot is just wide of the basket thanks to Otsubo’s tip of the ball. He gains the rebound quickly and calls for a run-and-gun, hurling the ball down the court to Takao, who’s already beelining for the opposite basket. Gasping, Izuki turns to run after him only for Hyuga to already be there, marking the first year point guard impressively. Run-and-gun officially shut down, Takao doesn’t hesitate to blindly pass the ball behind him, trusting a certain teammate would be there to receive.

[Name]’s brow furrows when the ball spins into Midorima’s hands at half court. “Shit.”

Much to Hyuga’s dismay, Midorima doesn’t miss his shot, so confident as to turn around and start walking back before it even makes the net. He’s not the only one, however; Kuroko, aware of his former teammate’s inability to miss, runs for the net to collect the ball before it makes the points. As he speeds past Kagami, he simply orders “keep running” to snap him out of his trance. 

The ball passes through the hoops, a satisfying swish of the net indicating Midorima earned his first three pointer of the game. The entire crowd gasps at the stunning shot; the first one to make it four minutes into the quarter. Kuroko snags the ball after it bounces once, two hands grasping it and his fingers gripping it tightly.

[Name], immediately recognizing the hold, suddenly stands from her seat, eyes wide. “You’re really going to try it now, Tetsu…?”

Riko arches a brow at her manager, mumbling under her breath. “Try what, [Name]-chan?”

The [H/C]ette can’t answer as she’s too concentrated on Kuroko. Moving the ball to palm it in his right hand, he begins to pivot on his left foot, winding up to throw the ball with ultimate speed and force; spinning so fast his hair flies behind him and a whirlwind almost seems to form around him. With one final heave, he glares at Midorima and hurls it down the court with all the force that he can muster.

Just as he turns around, Midorima’s eyes widen as the ball flies past his face, barely an inch away from his ear. The ball hurtles at what seems to be mach speed, an orange blur to the eye that whips his hair around his head. 

Kagami, already waiting at the far end of the court, is the one to palm it and dunk it into the basket, earning an immediate two points back for Seirin within seconds. 

[Name] can barely contain herself as she jumps up and down, clutching her arms close to her chest as she grins giddily. “Tetsu’s full court pass: The Cyclone pass. He and I have been working on that for ages and he’s finally perfected it! Brilliant job, Tetsu-chan! Well done!”

Kasamatsu and Kise gape at the sudden play, putting Seirin back at an even playing field with Shutoku. The former glances at the manager as she jumps up and down, grinning as her lips form words that he can’t understand from his distance. “Amazing…”

“[Name]cchi sure is excited about that, huh?” Kise blinks, looking back at Kuroko. “She’s helping Kurokocchi become a lot stronger than I ever could’ve imagined…”

Riko can barely believe her eyes, nearly falling off the bench herself as she jumps up to clutch [Name]’s sleeves, shaking her. “And you never thought to once run it by me that you’ve been working on such an amazing play that I could incorporate into our gameplays!?”

[Name]’s head spins when the coach finally shows mercy, letting her go. “S-Sorry, Riko-chan! But don’t worry, I’ve already run the pass and how to incorporate it into each play by Taiga and Tetsu-chan. No one needs to understand when to use it but them.”

“And why is that?” she arches a brow, thoroughly perplexed. “Shouldn’t the rest of the team know about it as well?”

[Name] shakes her head with the smallest of smiles, radiating pure bliss. “That’s the thing; I didn’t want to drop this new technique on everyone else before we perfected it. I didn’t think it would be beneficial for them to concern themselves with a play that wasn’t ready to be used yet.”

“I see…That way, they’d focus on what they know rather than what they can’t control.” Riko sits back down, finger on her chin as she contemplates this new ability of Kuroko’s.

Kuroko, who’s eyes had been lingering on his manager as she faces away from him to speak to Riko, blushes softly after he heard her call his name. She has been calling him Tetsu since the day they met, but only now did she first add on the ‘chan’ to it. Midorima barely gets over himself after the pass and dunk, glaring at Kuroko from across the court as he snarls under his breath. “Kuroko…”

Said bluette meets his glare with an equally hard stare. “I’m sorry. I can’t let you take the first quarter that easily.”

Hyuga grins at the team spirit radiating through himself and the rest of Seirin. For the first time he’s ever seen, [Name]’s up off the bench and standing with restless excitement. In his mind, and everyone else’s, this game is only getting started. Miyaji is the one to grab the ball and take it down the court for Shutoku, passing it off to Midorima when Hyuga steps up to defend him.

Kagami is on him like glue, however, doing everything in his power to keep him from taking a clean shot. Midorima moves into position to do so, only to narrow his eyes at a flash of blue beneath the net, waiting for him. Growling, he reluctantly passes back to Takao, unable to take the risk of shooting on the basket. 

Kasamatsu notices this as well from up above. “I see…”

Kise looks at him, expecting another explanation. “Huh?”

“When Midorima shoots from such extended distances, he has to shoot the ball in a high arch, which causes the ball to take longer to hit the basket than a normal shot does,” he begins. “Therefore, he has time to get back to defense before Seirin can get the ball. However, if Midorima can run back, then so can Kagami. They can counter Midorima with a super fast break by running past him thanks to Kuroko’s full court pass. That’s why Midorima’s refusing to shoot. But… the timing and decision to show us that pass… The confidence to get in one shot… It’s reaffirming. Seirin has some battle-hardened warriors on their team; I’ll give them that.”

The Shutoku coach leans against his palm, struggling to keep his eye on Seirin’s small forward, number eleven. “I was already surprised by how little presence he has, but he can also pass like he does, too? Interesting.”

Takao doesn’t seem too intimidated, however, receiving Midorima’s pass and dribbling smugly. He crosses past Izuki with what seems to be ease and approaches Mitobe, whose defense is a bit more intimidating. Instead of facing him, therefore, Takao’s eyes sharpen down to a cold silver, and he blindly passes the ball behind his back to his right. [Name]’s eyes narrow when the ball perfectly finds Otsubo’s palms with precision, making the layup. 

Just as Kasamatsu predicted, Kuroko immediately scoops up the ball and chucks it down to the opposite end of the court, cutting the air like a jet before it reaches Mitobe’s palm. [Name] paces a bit, folding her arms and smirking a bit. “Seems like telling the rest of the team beforehand really would’ve been pointless. They’ve already got the hang of the pass and they sure are rolling with it,”

Before Shutoku can react, Mitobe tosses it into the basket for another two points, raising the score to 5-4. Humming, the Shutoku coach doesn’t stand from the bench to call out to his team. “Takao, Kimura: switch marks.”

[Name] stops her pacing when she hears this order, thoroughly intrigued by the purpose of it. She turns her eyes to the first year point guard, now marking Kuroko. Upon facing Izuki, he makes another back pass with a smirk, sparking [Name]’s ultimate attention now as his blind passes never seem to be blind at all. Miyaji takes it and runs it up, making the quick layup. This time, however, Kuroko doesn’t take the ball; Izuki does as Takao runs back with the bluette, chatting the phantom up. “You know, Shin-chan would say it’s our fate to play against each other. You see, you and I are somewhat similar; passing is our bread and butter. So I guess you could say that I hate you because you’re like me. I simply don’t want to lose to you, that's all.”

As Izuki decides to pass it to Kuroko, depending on his lack of presence to help him out in the situation, Takao reads the play like an open book and steals the pass, handing it off to Kimura for a quick layup with Miyaji. [Name]’s eyes widen at this new player stepping into the fray, impressing her beyond the charts. She turns back to the bench and opens her laptop, crouching down to scroll through her notes until she lands on everything she’s gathered from Takao online. Although she knew he was good the moment she laid eyes on him, she barely came up with anything on the web to know anything about his abilities other than being a point guard and troublemaker. 

With a stern expression, a poor attempt to conceal her shock, she turns back around, lips parted slightly. She blinks a couple times, eyes flashing gold as she scans his form up and down, testing his abilities. Her breath hitches slightly, however, when Takao smirks at her over his shoulder, catching her in what appears to be the act of checking him out. Her eyes narrow as they fade back to [E/C], noting as his own gray optics gleam silver. Kuroko catches sight of Takao staring at his manager and is quick to snap him out of said trance, forcing him to take his eyes off of her.

“I’m sorry,” he says, stoic in order to gain his attention. “No one has ever said that to me before, so I don’t know what to say in return.”

Takao blinks, and before his eyes, Kuroko seemingly vanishes. “Huh? Hey, wait! How rude are you to suddenly disappear like that!? ….Mmh, just kidding~”

Riko calls out to Izuki on the court, “Hyuga-kun’s free! Let’s go!”

Taking his coach’s advice, the pun master dips around his mark and hurls the ball to Kuroko; a middle man for the ball to get to the captain. As the bluette reaches out to spin the ball back to change its direction ever so slightly, someone beats him to it. Takao smacks the ball away from its original path before taking it up the court himself, making a clean layup.

[Name]’s eyes widen. “That’s it….”

“What is it, [Name]-chan?” Koga looks up at her, for she’d been pacing the past couple of minutes in deep concentration.

“Number ten: Takao Kazunari. I’ve got him figured out,” she claims before turning back to the court in order to gain her vice-captain’s attention. “Izu-chan!”

He and Hyuga, who’d been standing together on the court, both turn back to look at her. The former arches his brow. “Hm? What is it, [Nickname]-chan?”

“Number Ten has a similar eye to yours, but his field of vision is a bit larger. That’s how he’s able to see Tetsu from anywhere on the court,” she explains, arms folded and voice composed to go along with her expressionless features. “No, he’s not just watching him at this point. He can see everybody on the court at all times. That’s why Tetsu-chan’s misdirection is powerless against him. Mr. Takao’s hawk eye is very observant.” 

The said point-guard can’t help but smirk at the girl, seeing as the entire court stopped to listen to her explanation. He looks at Midorima. “Oi, Shin-chan. Now I’m starting to understand why you’ve developed such an interest in that girl. She’s a lot more calculating than I thought. No one could’ve picked my eye up just by watching me play; she’s extremely observant… Hey! How the hell did she know my name!?”

When Takao whips back around to look at [Name] again, he finds her eyes already boring into his soul, the gleaming amber hue seemingly turning him inside out and picking any information out of him that she can. Feeling violated under her gaze, he squirms a bit in discomfort. She chuckles at this, merely looking away and returning her attention to the game at hand. Little did Takao know that she picked up on everything he told his first year companion.

The score 8-11 in Shutoku’s favor, Riko calls a timeout. [Name] remains silent as their coach lets them have a small break before she talks, allowing them water and rest. Meanwhile, Takao pries his curious eyes off of the Seirin manager as Midorima speaks up beside him.

“You want to know why I don’t like him?” he asks softly, and Takao follows his gaze to Kuroko, toweling off the back off his neck. “Because I respect Kuroko. He has no physical strengths. Despite that, he wore the same uniform as the rest of us at Teiko, and helped lead the team to victory. His abilities are nothing like ours. His strengths are of another kind. Strengths that don’t play to himself, but to his teammates.”

The referee calls for the end of the timeout, Riko having gotten everything out that she needed to say. As the boys get up to return to the court, Kagami lingers behind and leans down to Kuroko’s height, who sits on the bench to finish off his water. “Take care of Takao.”

The shadow nods at his light simply. “Right.”

As play resumes, Takao’s marking Kuroko once again, smug as ever. “Hey, did you come up with a plan?”

Kuroko doesn’t even blink. “I’m still thinking.”

“You’re doing what?” he asks, somewhat confused.

Meanwhile, Miyaji’s pressure on Hyuga is brutal, both of them panting and heaving under the exhaustion of playing two games in one day. Miyaji, however, played a much lower profile game than the Seirin captain did, and ultimately is the one to steal the pass and take it down court, handing it off to Takao. With another simple layup, Shutoku’s score increases to 8-13 in their favor.

“It’s alright,” Riko reassures her benched players on the sideline when they begin to become sullen. “This game definitely depends on Kagami-kun and Kuroko-kun, who we had on reserve during Seiho. However, that’s not all… I may have conditioned Hyuga-kun to work a bit better under pressure.”

Riko blinks, thinking back to when Hyuga approached her during practice about a year ago, asking her to make him better when it comes to leading the team through high pressure situations; keeping them composed and collected as a unit. Therefore, she’d suggested he play under pressure in practice, too, and immediately knew what she had to do.

From then on, for every shot Hyuga missed during practice, Riko would take one of his precious Sengoku figures from his large collection and crush it beneath her sneaker. Many tears were spilt, and though she felt extreme guilt, Riko showed no mercy. After all, this was the reward she gained for being so cruel; she beams with pride as Hyuga easily makes a three-pointer for his team, claiming he doesn’t care whether Shutoku is a king or not; they can go die either way. 

[Name] cringes a bit at his colorful language. “His personality did suffer a bit from whatever you did, Riko…”

“At least he will always make important shots from now on,” Riko tries to lighten the mood, rather successfully. 

Kuroko steps in to steal a pass made by Miyaji, which was heading down the court to Takao. He slaps it aside, aiming for Mitobe to his right, only for Takao himself to step in and take it back. Stealing a steal… color [Name] impressed. Midorima rolls his eyes at the cocky point guard, ready for his pass at half court. He finds Kagami to be a few solid meters away, expecting Midorima to come closer for the shot.

Said shooting-guard scoffs. “My shooting range isn’t that short.”

[Name] nearly melts on the sidelines as the bucket is made, her eyes on Midorima’s form the whole time. Although he himself is a cocky bastard, she has to admit that his shooting form is so god damn sexy. He never misses, after all, and it seems the entire half of a court is within his range. She glances at the clock, a minute left in the first quarter, the score 11-16 in Shutoku’s favor. What power….

She grins with amusement as Midorima sprints back to the position just beneath the net he’s defending, glaring at Kuroko. “As long as I’m back here, you cannot get behind me with Kuroko’s passes.”

The greenette glances at the Seirin manager warily as she chortles at him; what could she possibly find so funny? No way her team has another trick up its sleeve… Kagami is the one to bring the ball down to Midorima’s end of the court, greeting the point guard nonchalantly with a smirk. “You’ve got something interesting there; but you aren’t the only one.”

Midorima gasps as Kagami jumps up for a three; to his understanding, Seirin’s ace didn’t have the best record for shots from outside. Dumbfounded, he watches as the redhead speeds past him as the ball arches for the hoop. [Name] rolls her eyes with the smallest of smiles. “That cocky bastard. It doesn’t matter whether he makes it in or not. If he misses, he’ll just dunk it in himself.”

And that he does. When the ball bounces off the rim, Kagami simply takes it and smashes it through the net for two points; a one man alley-oop. Kise grins from his seat as the Seirin team runs back to defend. Hyuga pats Kagami’s shoulder as he compliments him. “Nice shot.”

Izuki follows up the praise with another pat on the back. “So nice how nice it was!”

“Izuki, shut up before I bench you-...”

They all turn at the sound of the ball being dribbled in place at the end of the court behind him. Midorima’s eyes narrow at Kagami. “That was a pretty good shot, even for you. However… I told you my range is not that short.”

“He’s got to be kidding…” Hyuga breathes as Midorima jumps for a full court shot.

Everyone in the entire stadium watches with bated breath as the ball sails higher and higher, the acme of the arch nearly brushing the ceiling before it begins its descent back down towards the opposite basket. And somehow, unsurprisingly, it makes the net with a swoosh, to most of Seirin’s dismay.

[Name] can’t help but let out a strange noise, sounding almost like a moan, making half the boys on the bench uncomfortable when they hear it. She bites her lip. “That shot… Riko-chan, I think I just creamed my pants.”

At this joke, Koga bursts out laughing, Tsuchida chuckling softly with him, but the first years break out into a furious flush, even after [Name] earns a whack over the head with Riko’s clipboard. Furihata is especially disgusted by [Name]’s mischievous smirk. “[Name]-san! Gross!”

After Midorima’s gorgeous shot makes three more points for Shutoku, the buzzer sounds off, echoing through the stadium, signaling the first quarter to be over. With a two minute interval in between quarters, the starters amble over to their respective benches for a much needed breather. [Name] stands beside Riko to allow them to do so on the bench, most of them sullen after Midorima’s devastating display of power.

Hyuga is the first one to speak, throwing his head back in exasperation. “The Generation of Miracles are ridiculous.”

Koga nods in agreement, standing beside the bench. “How are we supposed to stop that shot?”

[Name] bites her lip. “Hm… Tetsu-chan. You mark Midorima next quarter. Shut him down.”

Before any of them can object to her suggestion, the buzzer sounds, ordering them back onto court. The break had flown by, seeing as most of them spent it glum and stuck in their own heads. Kuroko nods as he passes his manager, exchanging a knowing glance with her as he goes.

The small forward does as he’s told, stepping up to Midorima once he’s gained possession of the ball. The shooting guard scoffs. “You think you can stop me with that?”

From the stands, Kise’s eyes widen as Midorima shifts to drive past the bluette, a smirk gracing the model’s features as he thinks back to a similar attempt he made in his own game against Kuroko. “Their real objective’s coming up… Midorimacchi ought to be more careful~”

[Name] smirks as Kuroko goes for his loyal backtip, sure to cherry pick the ball from Midorima’s palm from behind. Her eyes widen in shock when he’s screened off, however, by none other than Takao, shit eating smirk planted on his features. Her jaw grinds her teeth, fist clenched at her side. He wasn’t supposed to come off his mark… she miscalculated.

“Hey, now…” Takao whispers into Kuroko’s ear playfully. “Don’t do crude stuff like that!”

In an attempt to make up for [Name]’s said miscalculation, Kagami steps up to guard Midorima from his goal. Midorima narrows his eyes at him before he crosses to the left behind his back skillfully, baiting the redhead in. As soon as Kagami makes the fateful step, Midorima automatically switches directions, leading with his left shoulder to twirl around Kagami’s outstretched arm and take the shot once he’s past him.

Of course he makes the three.

Kagami wipes some sweat off his upper lip in disbelief. Not only can he shoot threes, but Midorima’s fast, too. Said Miracle steps back to defend, glancing at his teammate. “Don’t get in my way, Takao.”

“Aw, don’t be so shy,” said Hawk Eye coos.

The score stands 13-24, nearly three minutes into the second quarter.

Midorima scoops up a shot Hyuga made from under the basket, lining up for another full court shot. “No matter how many shots you make, you won’t be able to stop any of mine.”

Accepting the challenge, Kagami streaks to the opposite side of the court, a determined grin dancing on his face. [Name]’s eyes follow him with anticipation, flashing gold momentarily as she watches him gear up for action. His eagerness to face a challenge is so contagious. Her eyes widen as Kagami jumps, just barely missing the height required to tip Midorima’s high arching shot. Another three points for Shutoku, but a revelation for [Name].

Kagami chuckles darkly, gaining a couple of his teammates’ attention as he grins stupidly at Midorima, returning a sly smile. “He’s strong… Now this is Midorima.”

[Name] bites her lip to hold herself back from joining in on Kagami’s laughter; the ace always slips into a fit of hysteria when he faces such strong opponents. It’s only natural to want to join him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna let y'all know now that I definitely prefer a bit of dark as well as mature humor. I like to believe that everyone has a dirty mind, so why not embrace it? It's funny lmao. If you aren't mature enough to handle sexual jokes or some hardcore flirtation between [Name] and some of these characters-- I'm sorry, but this story is not gonna be the one for you. Besides, I did warn y'all in the description; I'm writing about teenagers, here. I'll tone it down a lot from what I probably would want to include, but you know what you came for. Deal with it luv :p
> 
> Also the fact that Izuki's puns can't be translated into English is actually a hate crime. They're so cute and funny if you understand Japanese pronunciation. It's a tragedy, really :(


	7. Tension

Seirin returns to the locker room in silence at half time. The tension among all the players lingers ominously, everyone painfully aware of the gap in score between them and their opponent. The silence continues as they sit down; so silent, [Name] found herself quite uncomfortable to even be present in the situation. Fidgeting anxiously, she bites her lip as a playful idea comes into mind, her eyes narrowing. As she had been leaning against the wall for the past couple of minutes, everyone notices when she moves from her lax position. She takes a step towards the two benches they all share, the one on the right nearest to her. Izuki looks up as she stands beside where he sits, right on the edge, hands on her hips and brows furrowed.

Much to his and the rest of the team’s surprise, she leans over and pecks him on the cheek.

'……………..'

“[NAME]-CHAN, WHAT THE FUCK!?” Koga nearly rips his hair out, throwing his water bottle to the side and pouncing on her, knocking her into the wall as he grips the fabric of her uniform jacket with a pout. “I WANT ONE, TOO!”

She smirks, shaking her head in a teasing manner. “Only one for now, seeing as Izu-chan played so well last game. The rest of you will get one if you just got over yourselves and get hype for the second half. I know we can win!”

Although some of them were slightly weirded out by her sudden action --Izuki having fainted--, at least she successfully cut through the tension in the air. Koga, still whining, goes back to his spot and sits down as Mitobe attempts to wake Izuki up by fanning him off. [Name] makes her way to the opposite bench when Kuroko beckons her over.

He looks up at her with his big blue eyes. “[Nickname]-chan? You happened to have been recording the first half, right?”

“Oh, yes!” she hastily pulls out her phone and a pair of AirPods.

“May I join you in reviewing it, please?” he asks politely.

When she nods, he scoots over and makes some room for her, though it’s quite finite. She manages to squeeze in beside him on the bench, handing him an AirPod and keeping the other for herself to use. Izuki’s finally woke up, most likely having forgotten what had just happened to him moments ago. He glances over at Kuroko and [Name] sitting shoulder to shoulder, positioned very close together in order to watch the same video on her phone.

“What’re you two doing?” he asks groggily, eyes narrowing at their vicinity.

Kuroko glances up at him for a millisecond before returning to the phone [Name] holds before him. “Watching the film [Name]-chan took the first half.”

“Well, do you have a plan?” Hyuga asks softly.

“I don’t know,” Kuroko states plainly.

Izuki deadpans. “You don’t know?”

“I have thought about winning, but I have never wondered whether I can win or not,” Kuroko simply states. He then peers up at him. “Even if we lose by one hundred points, there’s still a very slim chance that a meteor will strike the other team’s bench in the last second.”

[Name] snorts. “In other words, let’s hope Midorima accidentally walks off a cliff.”

“That isn’t likely, [Nickname]-chan. There are no cliffs nearby here,” Kuroko corrects her, not detecting her sarcasm, causing everyone in the locker room to sweat drop.

“Well, compared to that, a second half comeback seems way more realistic!” Koganei admits, stretching his arms behind his head.

Hyuga can’t help but shake his head in amusement, standing up from his bench. “If that’s the case, let’s get back out there and show them how we at Seirin fight!”

“Right!”

[Name] and Kuroko stand up together in order to keep watching the film. The former glances at Kagami as he stands up from the bench in complete silence, a pinch of concern crossing her features. She lets him be, however, and matches Kuroko’s pace as they walk out together. Once they reach the court, Kuroko thanks her and hands her the AirPod she lent him before joining his fellow teammates on the bench. He wouldn’t be one of the starters in the second half as [Name] tried to come up with some strategy to shut down Takao.

“Let the third quarter begin!”

“Hyuga-senpai, behind you!” Furihata warns, but it’s too late for his captain, seeing as Takao tipped the ball out of his grasp and into Midorima’s instead, going for yet another one of his three pointers. 

“Taiga!” [Name] calls out, and the ace snaps into action, unsure why his manager called out his name so suddenly. He doesn’t ignore it, however, moving to mark Midorima and jumping to block his shot with haste.

Midorima’s eyes widen while [Name]’s swirl a golden hue, standing up from the bench. Kuroko notices this, deeming the sudden interaction between his former and current teammates to be important. Midorima’s obviously shocked by Kagami’s speed, and he’s not the only one to notice that Kagami’s jumps are steadily climbing in height. The shooting guard can just barely get the shot over the ace’s giant hand before his face, making the three.

Although the score increases to 27-48 in Shutoku’s favor, [Name] closes her eyes and smirks to herself, softly biting her lip. She glances at Kagami, his hair curtaining his eyes as he continues to hype himself up under his breath, determination surging through his veins as Midorima brushes past him, side eyeing him as he goes.

For the next play, Izuki uses his eagle eye to find Koganei just behind him, the ball easily finding the second year’s hands. Said small forward jumps up and takes the shot, successfully making two points.

“Wow, he actually made it that time!” Kawahara exclaims in astonishment.

An exclamation that Koga picked up on from the court. “Why do you have to say that!?”

With Takao in possession of the ball, he glances around the court, smirking to himself as Izuki marks him. You aren’t marking Shin-chan closely enough, Kagami…

However, he’s somewhat uneasy when he observes a certain manager’s grin as he passes it to his shooting guard. What’s got her so excited? He thinks to himself as he watches Midorima palm the ball with ease.

“Taiga!” she yelps once again, louder this time with a grin on her face.

And the ace responds, jumping with Midorima, grunting in pure determination as he reaches up to block the shot. Midorima can’t believe his eyes; he’s jumping even higher! How is his vertical incline increasing with every shot he attempts to stop? And much to his dismay, Kagami does what Midorima believed to be impossible up until this very moment. The very tip of the redhead’s middle finger brushes the bottom of the basketball, slightly redirecting its course. Never in his life has anyone been able to lay a finger on one of Midorima’s shots…

And Kagami just did.

Everyone gasps when Midorima’s shot doesn’t hit nothing but net; instead, it gives the hoop a little rim job, taking a solid five seconds to toilet bowl into the basket. Takao arches a brow, letting out a sigh of relief, understanding now why [Name]’s getting overly excited on the sidelines as he glances at her unwavering grin. “That was close…”

Riko also glances at her beaming manager. “[Name]-chan, you found our opening…”

And all the American girl does is allow her smile to grow even wider as she beams at Kagami on the court, pride seeping out of her soul like a wet sponge being drained. Kagami moves to walk past Midorima after causing such a commotion, but is stopped as the Miracle’s glasses glint.

“Hey. What’s your sign?” he asks sternly.

Kagami arches a brow at the strange question. “I’m a Leo.”

Midorima scoffs at this before turning to none other than [Name] on the sidelines, meeting her gaze straight on. Her smile doesn’t waver in luminescence, but it does shift into a sly smirk. His eyes narrow at her. “And what about you?’

She doesn’t blink. The first time she’ll ever be talking directly to the miracle of a shooter, and her single word response is, “[Star Sign].”

As this smug statement rolls off her tongue, Midorima cringes, thinking back to his Oha Asa’s prediction this morning:

‘...with your lucky item, the Shigaraki raccoon, Cancers have nothing to fear. However, your compatibility with Leo today is very poor; beware of any Leo’s you run into whose actions are guided by the ever-so cunning [Star Sign], who comes in second for today’s ranking…”

He curses under his breath. “That damn horoscope really is always right…”

Don’t lose focus… Hyuga keeps reminding himself, even after he makes another one of his clutch three pointers. We can’t afford to lose…

Midorima is soon again in possession of the ball, turning around only to be face-to-face with Kagami. He growls beneath his breath at the situation, a small panic sparking in his chest at the thought of the ace before him, the only man capable of blocking one of his shots.

“A full court box and one?” Kasamatsu notes softly, eyeing everyone on Seirin’s side of the court, save Kagami and Midorima, still beside Shutoku’s net to defend. “Seirin really hasn’t given up. You can’t deny their spirit.”

Feeling a subtle vibration through the floorboards, [Name] glances over her shoulder at Kuroko, who leans his elbows against his knees, the left one bouncing up and down vigorously out of restless excitement. She smiles, tapping it softly. He glances up at her, only to find that her eyes remain on the game, not him. 

“Relax, Tetsu-chan. You won’t be out much longer…” she says as she snarkily gazes at Midorima, somewhat scared to shoot with Kagami marking him. “This is the most effective way to guard Midorima, seeing as his range is the entire court.”

Takao heeds her words and jumps into action, pushing past Izuki and running down the court to aid Midorima. The shooting guard recognizes the action, and gratefully moves to brush past Kagami, though he’d never thank Takao aloud. Confused, Kagami steps to easily block Midorima, only to find that he’s shoved off by someone much smaller than himself. Takao smirks into the screen, allowing Midorima to dip past.

“It’s two on one, now. What’re you going to do, Kagami?” he hums.

“I’ll still stop you,” he growls under his breath, easily dipping past Takao with his height. “Thanks to everything you’ve shown us in this game, [Name] and I have finally found your weakness!”

[Name] closes her eyes and hums in delight at Takao’s bewilderment, watching Kagami race over to Midorima as he lines up for a shot at half court. She licks her lips, irises gold when her lids flutter back open. “The longer the shot, the longer it takes to line up said shot.”

Midorima’s eyes widen as a giant hand comes into his field of vision from over his shoulder as he lines up for the shot. And just as the ball flies from his fingertips, Kagami is once again able to tip it with one of his digits. And this time, everyone on the court can tell; the trajectory of the shot is off course, and the ball doesn’t make the hoop. Quickly snapping out of his shock, Mitobe moves to collect what looks to be his first rebound of the game. Just as he’s about to pick it off, Otsubo’s already there to clean up Midorima’s mistake, dumping the ball into the net.

[Name] narrows her eyes at Shutoku’s center, cursing to herself for having forgotten how skillful of a player he is, with or without a miracle on his team. She nibbles at the dry skin on her bottom lip, folding her arms before nodding to herself as Shutoku’s soon back on offense thanks to Ostubo’s impeccable defense against Koganei.

“Rin-senpai, Jun-senpai,” she calls out calmly. “Double team No. 4.”

They do as their genius manager tells them, and her eyes flicker to Takao as he collects the ball and turns to make a pass. Using his eye before, he’d planned on passing to Otsubo, but now he can see that that isn’t an option, thanks to the Seirin manager’s quick thinking. Flinching, he instead passes it to Midorima, who seems wide open, as no one is marking him. Said shooter lines up for another one of his shots, and Takao’s breath hitches at the blur of red hair the bolts past him; Kagami’s a lot faster than he looks.

Kise’s breath hitches as well, gaining Kasamatsu’s attention, who arches a brow at him, expecting answers. The blond simply shakes his head. “I must be seeing things.”

However, he isn’t the only one. [Name]’s eyes are wide, her breathing still, in and out of her parted lips as she clutches her play board closer to her chest. “Taiga… Could you be capable…?”

No one can hear her enunciated thoughts, however, for she barely whispers them. Instead, they focus on Kagami as he makes another one of his incredible jumps, somehow even higher than before. [Name]’s tense shoulders completely drop and feel as if they melt away when this time, Kagami gets an entire hand on the ball, smacking it away, much to Midorima’s dismay.

After a second of recovering from her shock, [Name] tosses her board aside and begins jumping up and down ecstatically, arms thrown over her head and a jubilant grin gracing her features. “THAT’S IT, TAIGA! THAT’S HOW IT’S DONE! BRILLIANT! KEEP IT UP! Izu-chan, clean it up!”

Hearing his manager’s voice, now directed at him, snaps Izuki out of his trance, still flabbergasted by such an astounding block. He rushes after the ball in a flash, determined to get to it before it heads out of bounds with a smirk. “I suppose that there’s always a drawback, no matter how strong the ability.”

Kasamatsu’s eyes widen as he watched the Seirin point guard scoop the ball up just before it hit the line, dribbling it down towards the hoop to score, laying it up for another two points. “I see now; this must be the plan [Name]-san devised at half time after seeing Midorima in action for herself. As long as Kagami is able to stop Midorima’s shots, the back remains wide open for them to take it down and score. Midorima’s never missed a shot before, so they’ve never had to worry about cleaning up his mistakes. It’s the perfect opportunity for a counter!”

Not only is Kagami blocking Midorima’s shots, now, but smacking Otsubo’s powerful dunks away, too. However, him being the tunnel visioned player he is, he over-excitedly commits a defensive foul on Otsubo. Everyone on the Seirin bench is wilding over Kagami’s sudden surge in strength, cheering for him loudly. All but two.

Kuroko stands when he sees [Name]’s expression waver, the corners of her smile twitching in disbelief. That spark in Kagami’s eye, his sudden dominant nature on the court, his will to rise to the top no longer being a fulfilling motivation, but one to simply seek out a single and meaningless victory. She’s seen it all before…

“[Nickname]-chan,” she flinches at Kuroko’s touch, his hand resting on her shoulder. She glances up at him, his gaze locked on Kagami. “If he continues like this, I have a bad feeling about what will happen…”

She bites her lip, unsure of how to respond when he makes another jump shot against two blockers, pressuring Shutoku by himself. Her eyes flicker to the left at the scoreboard; one minute left of the third quarter, the score now standing 47-56. At least he’s closing the gap.

Her eyes widen when Midorima goes for another one of his shots, right before Kagami. Her eyes flicker over his legs, gold as she notices his stats depleting rapidly. “Taiga, don’t-!”

Before she can warn him, however, he attempts another one of his innate verticals, this time, his knees buckling weakly and a pained grunt escaping his throat. Midorima jumps, and Kagami cannot follow, the bucket making three points for Shutoku. The gap is once again in the double digits by the end of third quarter.

As both teams groggily amble off the court, [Name] is sure to ruffle up a certain red head’s hair, scolding him. “You’re over exerting yourself and it’s not even fourth quarter yet, moron!”

“Shut up!” he growls, grabbing her wrist and ripping it out of his hair.

Izuki carefully pulls Kagami’s unintentionally tight grip off of the manager’s thin wrist with a calm smile. “She’s right, you know. You should be paying attention to your surroundings a bit more.”

“That’s right,” Hyuga agrees, giving [Name] a friendly pat on the head as he passes her to make up for a lack of greeting. “That wasn’t the right time for you to take it down court yourself; you should’ve passed it first.”

Kagami scoffs as he takes a seat on the bench, his expression grim. “I’m the only one here that stands a chance against Shutoku. We don’t need team play now. We just need me to score.”

A short silence befalls the Seirin bench, soon to be followed by a loud clatter and a swift slap. [Name] stands over Kagami, shoulders shaking with rage as she seethes at him, unable to say anything as tears brim in her eyes, in which she furiously fights to hold back. She had tossed her clipboard aside and slapped Kagami across the face with all the force she could muster, a red handprint tattooed onto the right side of his face. Absolutely enraged, Kagami moves to bolt up and throw her to the ground, only to be punched in the face by none other than Kuroko himself. Surprisingly enough, there was enough power behind his blow to knock the large ace off the bench.

Kagami snarls as he scrambles back up to his feet, looming over Kuroko, who stands protectively in front of [Name]. The redhead grabs the bluette by his warm up shirt collar, threatening to squeeze the life out of him. “Kuroko, you bastard-...”

“You can’t play basketball by yourself,” he states nonchalantly in his monotone voice, not a care in the world for Kagami’s anger.

“There’s no point in playing together if we don’t win!” he yells in Kuroko’s face.

“There’s no point if you win by yourself!” Kuroko corrects him, brows crossed and barely raising his voice. “Even if we beat Shutoku as a team that can’t trust each other, no one would be happy.”

Kagami blinks before giving the bluette a strong hook to the jaw, sending him flying onto his ass. “Don’t be so naive! If we don’t win, those are nothing more than nice words!”

This time, [Name]’s the one who jumps back into action, grabbing Kagami by his shirt collar and harshly tugging him down to her much lower height. His eyes widen as she gets close and personal to his face, her [skin color] flesh reddened and not looking very pleased as she speaks in a taunting whisper, though loud enough for the entire team to hear. “So this is really what you want, huh? Let me tell you something, you stubborn bastard. No matter how many more points you have than the opposing team by the end of the game, if you aren’t happy, then are you really winning in the first place? Tell me, Kagami Taiga, would you be happy winning this game on your own? If so, then I should have never wasted my time in Japan, because all I’m seeing is the same garbage basketball that I thought I left behind in America.”

This seems to overwhelm him with an alarming wave of shock, eyes wide as he can no longer face her glare. She lets him go, shoving him away a step or two in order to help Kuroko back to his feet as he places a hand on the right side of his face gingerly. Kagami sighs, regaining his composure as his tone shifts to something a bit softer as he’s confronted by his manager. “I’m sorry… Of course I’d rather be happy when we win.”

“Now that our charming manager has finally calmed Kagami down, our situation hasn’t changed,” Hyuga reminds them with a small smile. “What should we do?”

“Excuse me?” Kuroko gains their attention as he lifts his practice shirt over his head, revealing his jersey. “I may only be able to pass the ball, but I believe that I can take it up to another level.”

With a small smirk, finally back to her bubbly self after abandoning her terrifying aura she had dawned just moments ago, she takes the shirt for him. “Oh? What did you have in mind, Tetsu-chan?”

He looks at her. “Well, passing to Kagami-kun won’t work until the very end. First, we’ll have to break free from Takao and use normal passes, as well.”

“And we’ll have to leave that for you two to figure out,” Hyuga nods, referring to the two shortest members of the team. He then ominously glowers in Kagami’s direction, nearly forcing his soul out of his own body. “As for your behavior just now, I will be hitting you later.”

Izuki deadpans as the ref blows his whistle. “Uh, Hyuga, we’re starting now…”

The captain nods. “The punishment will have to wait. Seirin!”

“Fight!” the entire team finishes Hyuga’s cheer before the original starters enter the court once more, facing Shutoku for one final quarter.

“Taiga!” [Name]’s voice cuts clean through the air to the tall male, and she gently grabs his wrist. Neither one of them are being harsh towards one another anymore; Kagami even crouches down a bit in order to be at her eye level as she speaks to him. “It’s obvious that there’s a limit on how many times you can jump like that in a game.”

“I hate to admit you’re right, but I couldn’t do it for Midorima’s last shot,” he curses himself. “Am I really out of steam already?”

“No,” she shakes her head, and Kagami’s breath hitches when her eyes shift to a bright gold, glancing down at his crouching legs. The unnatural color continues to freak him out a bit, and he awaits uncomfortably as she checks him out. “Two more is your limit.”

“Two?” Izuki appears at her shoulder, the other four starters having been waiting for her to finish with their ace.

“How are we supposed to beat Midorima with only two more jumps?” Hyuga adds.

The manager blinks, her irises returning to their enchanting [E/C] hue, chilling Kagami down to the bone when she meets his gaze once more. “Save one for the deciding moment of the game; you’ll be the one to determine when you think that may be. As for the other one, you are to use to stop Midorima’s first shot of the fourth quarter!”

“What’s the point of doing that?” Koga asks from the bench.

“Starting from this quarter on, we will barely be able to cover Midorima normally, so we won’t be able to stop him when he shoots. However, Midorima won’t take an impossible shot that he doesn’t believe he can make,” [Name] explains vaguely.

Riko snaps in realization, though the rest of the team remains confused. “I see. By having Kagami-kun stop the first shot of the fourth quarter, we may be able to convince Shutoku that he’s got more than a couple of those jumps left in him. And if we get Midorima to believe just that, we may be able to reduce the number of shots he takes.”

The manager nods. “It’s a bit of a gamble, but it’s one worth taking.”

With a nod, Kagami looks her in the eye one last time before straightening back up to his normal towering height. He gives her an affectionate rub on the head, as if apologizing for the way he talked to her during the break, before joining his teammates on the court without another word. Their relationship is one where neither one of them ever says sorry to the other; they always just move on wordlessly, forgiving each other through certain actions instead. It's a straight to the point and raw friendship that [Name] can thoroughly appreciate. She can’t help but smile at Kagami's warm gesture, standing at the sideline intently as the game begins.

[Name], although trying to focus on all the players simultaneously, often finds that her eyes follow Takao as he stays stuck on Kuroko like glue. She bites her lip, vigorously raking her mind for any ideas as to how to shake the hawk eye off. She pries her eyes off the two of them when she realizes Hyuga is stuck, deciding to give him a bit of help.

“Jun-senpai! Taiga’s to the left!” she calls out, and the captain relies on her advice, hurling the ball to his left. Kagami is indeed there to pick it up, only to be automatically double-teamed by Midorima and Kimura; it seems they’re still not taking any chances with him after his display of unshakable determination last quarter. Therefore, [Name] calls for him to do the unexpected. “To Rin-senpai, Taiga!”

Eyes wide, Kagami glances to his left, seeing Mitobe wide open, and passes the ball straight to his chest; the first time he’s passed instead of going for the shot this entire game. Mitobe making the jump shot was enough to put the Shutoku team in shock; Kagami passing the ball off to someone else to take the shot was seemingly implausible, and he’d just done it after his manager had told him to.

Otsubo glances at her as he collects the ball under the net. Kagami isn’t charging in by himself like he was before…

Midorima notices this, too, glancing at her. She must’ve talked a lot of sense into him in order to get him to cool off like that; I wonder what she could’ve possibly said to accomplish such a feat. I’m sure getting punched in the face by Kuroko was quite the eye opener, in addition to that…

“A quick restart,” Riko mumbles as Otsubo hurls the ball clean to half court, where Midorima awaits it.

Said shooter goes for his brilliant shot at half court, not a worry in the world, seeing as he believed Kagami to be out of gas for the fourth quarter. Without his jumps, no one could stop Midorima from making his shots.

Therefore, utter devastation floods through Midorima’s entire being when Kagami jumps up from behind him and knocks the ball straight out of his grasp. Just as [Name] had told him to, Kagami stopped Shutoku’s first shot of the fourth quarter. The ball bounces straight to Hyuga’s grasp, who hands it off to Izuki for a quick jump shot, counting two baskets in a row for Seirin. And just like that, the gap is only ten points again, 51-61.

“He did it,” Riko sighs in relief, but doesn’t let the feeling get too close to her as she grimly leans her chin against the back of her hand. “Now, the rest is up to you, Kuroko-kun…”

Takao glances at both Riko’s and [Name]’s eyes on Kuroko before smirking at said player smugly. “Looks like they’re really counting on you, huh? Hm… No matter what you try, I will do everything in my power to stop you. You can’t escape my hawk eye.” 

Kuroku’s eyes narrow at the point guard strategically as he thinks back to something [Name] had mentioned while he was on the bench. He doesn’t think that she intended for anyone to really hear it; only to be thoughts she mumbled aloud to herself. But he picked up on it: “With Takao’s hawk eye, there’s no way to make misdirection work. If only we could direct all his attention onto something else… Tunnel vision him into focusing on one specific factor of the game. That’d be sure to distract him, but how…?”

Her words had given him an idea. For all his life, he’d been playing basketball by directing attention away from himself. Now, he’d be keeping Takao’s attention entirely on him; a completely different style of misdirection. No longer will he be the one just out of view, but Kuroko would now be the one to hide his teammates in plain sight.

[Name]’s eyes widen when she herself discovers Kuroko’s intentions. She can’t help but internally praise his genius as he shifts closer and closer to Takao. She mentally coaches him. Keep focusing his sight, Tetsu, close off his view of the court…

Takao’s eyes widen when he realizes the player he'd been most concerned about in that moment --Izuki-- disappears from his hawk eye vision over the court; in fact, the only person he can see is Kuroko right in front of him. Desperate to relocate Izuki, Takao spins on his heel in order to look at him directly. And by doing this, Kuroko takes advantage of his blind spot, slipping past him and opening up for the pass.

To contribute to [Name]’s ever growing respect for Takao, the first year point guard regains himself much quicker than she expected, racing to dive in front of Kuroko as Izuki throws the ball in his direction. The manager’s breath hitches as she sees the bluette pull his right arm back towards his body rather than reach out for the ball.

“Tetsu, you haven't shown me this one before….” she breathes softly, but Riko catches it.

“HUH!? Another pass you’ve been practicing without my knowing!?” she jumps up.

“No, no.... I actually have no idea what he's about to do. He must've come up with this on his own...” [Name] admits, biting her lip in anticipation. “I'm just as in the dark as you are.”

Just as [Name] says it, Kuroko smacks the ball with the heel of his palm, increasing its velocity as it cuts through the air towards Kagami before Takao can even reach him. [Name] squeals in excitement at the successful pass, recognizing it immediately as a pass he used to do with his former ace at Teiko. However, the present one seems much more polished and refined than the times he executed it in junior high footage. “Brilliant job, Tetsu-chan! I can’t believe how well you executed that Ignite Pass! Have you been practicing it without my knowledge? You sly bastard!”

Kuroko deadpans at her wiggling eyebrows, teasing him. “Please, [Nickname]-chan, now is not the time for your teasing.”

Kagami snags the ball out of the air, immediately spinning to rush the basket. And lo and behold, Midorima is there, waiting for him. Kagami thinks back to [Name]’s words just before the quarter began. How he was to save his final jump for the deciding moment of the game; a moment he’d have to deem the most valuable to their success. Brows furrowing, he decides it has to be right now. He needs to force the fact down Midorima’s throat; he can still jump, and he will be winning this game with the rest of his team. It’s now or never.

With a small battle cry, Kagami jumps from a spot just paces after the free throw line, and Midorima jumps with him in order to block. [Name] can’t help but recognize someone else’s form within Kagami’s as he dunks on Midorima with one hand, falling back down to the floor with a slight bend in his knee to soften the landing.

“Jordan…” she breathes, eyes wide.

“Did you say something, [Name]-chan?” Riko raises a brow in her direction.

Said manager shakes her head breathlessly. “No, nothing…”

Meanwhile, Kise and Kasamatsu gawk over Kagami’s impressive dunk, the former the first to speak up about it. “He’s really gone and done it; he finally blew over Midorimacchi.”

“Kuroko,” Kagami jogs over to the bluette, conversing with him softly in order for no one else to hear as they return to defend the counter attack. “It blows, but [Name] was right. I don’t think I can jump anymore…”

“I believe you,” Kuroko nods. “Our coach and our manager have unbelievable eyes. I’d trust that anything they say after analyzing us is right.”

“Yeah…” Kagami sighs before giving him a solid pat on the shoulder. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the rest is up to you.”

The bluette can’t help but smile before responding with a curt nod. “Right.”

Two minutes in, and Takao’s glaring at [Name] when Mitobe makes another shot after Kuroko redirects a pass to him. Whatever she told Kuroko to do has got him completely frazzled; he has no idea what’s going on anymore, and he keeps losing his lock on the phantom player. She’s smug about it, too, playing him in his own game. Takao can’t help but respect her mind, further intensifying his curiosity about who she could possibly be.

With that, Shutoku calls a timeout. Their coach glances at the Seirin bench when he calls it, seeing [Name]’s smirk grow into a cocky grin. He hums to himself as he faces his team. “There’s two minutes left; therefore, we’ll give every pass to Midorima.”

“B-But, sir! Kagami can still jump!” Otsubo reminds him, nearly spitting out his water.

The coach smirks, arms folded across his chest as he once again glances in [Name]’s direction. She stands just behind Riko, who is kneeling in front of Seirin’s bench as she also gives them her final coaching points for this game. “No, he can’t. That was just their manager covering the truth. An impressive play; she carries around the name ‘[Last Name]’ for a reason. Now, get back out there and do as I told you.”

Takao and Midorima can’t help but share a glance at their coach’s words. So he knows who she is, too. The latter’s eyes linger on the manager as she tucks a stray strand of [H/C] hair behind her ear, the lock mixing in with the rest. Who the hell could she be? Even more so, how could she possibly be so important as for his coach to know her name? 

He snaps out of it, however, when Takao clicks his fingers in his face. Midorima shakes off his curiosity and passes by the hawk eye; said point guard takes one last glance over his shoulder at [Name] before following the Miracle shooter onto the court.

Two minutes left, and Miyaji is in possession of the ball. Kagami does his damned hardest to keep Midorima locked down, but the shooter slips past him, open for a pass. 

Koganei’s eyes widen when Miyaji hurls the ball past Hyuga, the trajectory headed straight towards Midorima. “Midorima can’t shoot! Kagami-kun’s at his limit!”

[Name] only chuckles lowly, deeply confusing the rest of her team, save Riko, who is in on the plan. “Don’t you boys worry your pretty little heads. I thought they might try something like that!”

And just like that, Kuroko’s arm snakes under Midorima’s, not touching him as he smacks the ball away before it can even reach his hands. They all gasp. “Kuroko-kun!”

“It’s quite apparent that they plan on milking Midorima’s shots for the final two minutes,” [Name] states cockily, meeting the Shutoku coach’s gaze with a shiteating smirk to show for it. “It’s as if they’re telling us exactly where they’re going to pass it at all times!”

Coach Masaaki Nakatani narrows his eyes at her in aggravation, but he can’t help but admit he’s impressed by her ability to think several steps ahead. She’s exceeding every expectation he could’ve had for the daughter of one of the most talented ball players this world has ever known.

Hyuga’s the one to collect Kuroko’s tip and go to sink a layup, but he’s stopped by Otsubo, determined to win this game. 

“Ever since Shutoku has dropped their pace, the score has been rather stagnant,” Kasamatsu points out, glancing at the scoreboard, which reads 76-78. “One more minute...”

Thirty seconds into that minute, Midorima manages to get a shot off, extending the gap by three more points. Izuki swears aloud as he collects for a counter attack, closing off Miyaji. “Shit…”

“Izuki!” Hyuga lets his vice-captain know he’s open, receiving the ball from him a few meters away as Kagami blocks Midorima from stopping his clutch three pointer. “All right!”

Twenty seconds left: score stands 79-81. Seirin just needs two points to tie, three to win. Riko abruptly stands, yelling at the top of her lungs as Shutoku moves to keep the ball from them, “There’s no time! Get them!”

Kuroko dives in front of Takao, jabbing the ball out of his grasp for Izuki to collect and counter attack quickly. However, Seirin isn’t the only team determined to win. Takao proves his worth by following up the steal, hastily knocking it out of bounds in order to keep it out of Izuki’s grasp. Both of them panting heavily, the ref calls for a black ball, having gone out on Takao’s touch.

[Name]’s eyes shift down the court. “Otsubo’s marking Hyuga…”

Riko notices this as well, jaw clenched. “They don’t want us making any more threes.”

“I acknowledge your skill,” the Shutoku captain admits to the Seirin captain, lowering himself into a defensive stance. “That’s why I’ll do everything I can to stop you.”

“I don’t want to owe you anymore. You just gave me a pretty passionate block a couple of minutes ago,” Hyuga tells him. “But we will win.”

“And ...shift!” [Name] whispers under her breath right as the entire team moves into action.

Out of nowhere, Kagami’s screening Otsubo, Mitobe moving to take over his position on Midorima. Though the screen is rather weak, it’s strong enough to allow Hyuga to run back a couple paces. Scratch that; he runs far out from the three point line, perplexing Otsubo completely. He can’t possibly shoot from there in the last five seconds, can he!?

Izuki baseball passes to Hyuga once he’s nearly reached half court, and the captain catches it at his waist; he takes just a second before jumping to take the shot. It arches high, the trajectory clean. All eyes are on the ball as it begins its descent towards the basket.

“Splash!” [Name] squeals as it sinks clean, nothing but net. “My man, Jun-senpai! Getting it done!”

Seirin’s bench erupts into cheers as the clock stops at three seconds left, Seirin pulling ahead by one point. Takao only smirks when he collects the ball. “Don’t be foolish; you haven’t won yet…”

Kagami, overexcited by the preconceived victory, hadn’t noticed Midorima slip away from him. Takao flings the ball his direction, and he spins on his heel, preparing his full court shot as the clock starts back up again. The redhead gasps. “Midorima!”

The greenette scoffs in response. “Tch. I must always go for the buzzer beater. This is what it means to do everything humanly possible!”

“B-But Kagami-kun can’t jump anymore!” Fukuda gasps as Midorima jumps up to take the shot, two seconds left.

[Name] snorts, all the boys questioning how she could possibly be laughing at such a detrimental time. Riko sighs, putting a hand on her hip, but smiles smalley, nonetheless. “I noticed it earlier, too; [Name]-chan lied to Kagami-kun. From a statistical standpoint, he had 2.6 jumps left. She told him he had two so he wouldn’t waste what’s left of the third one, in case of something like this. He’ll have to push through and use what he has, but... ”

“He can do it. Get him, Taiga!” [Name] squeals jubilantly, jumping up and down, pulling her knees up to her chest with each hop out of pure excitement.

And he does. With a pained grunt, he lifts off the ground and raises a hand up that will surely be high enough to block Midorima’s shot. [Name] stops jumping, however, when she finds out that Midorima isn’t the slightest bit concerned. In fact, her heart completely shatters when she sees his feet hadn’t even lifted off the ground -- barely on his tip toes -- and he quickly drops back down to his heels while the ace is still airborne.

A pump fake!

“I believed in you; that even at your limit, you’d overcome it and jump,” Midorima states, going for the real shot now at the last second as Kagami begins to descend.

“I believed in him, as well,” Kuroko whispers huskily in his ear, smacking the ball out of his grasp from behind. “I knew that Kagami-kun would jump.”

The last second ticks, and the buzzer echoes loudly among the stadium walls. [Name] blinks in astonishment. Thanks to how long it took Midorima to pull off the fake, he unintentionally gave Kuroko all the time he needed to reach him in order to steal it at the last second.

The entire Seirin bench erupts louder than they ever have before, pumping their firsts into the air and slapping Kuroko on the back. Riko clutches onto her whistle as she watches the boys run onto the court together, celebrating a hard day’s work. As tears begin to well up in her eyes, she feels a gentle hand on her lower back. Glancing to her right, she’s greeted by [Name]’s warmest smile, brightening the entire room.

“Well done, Coach,” she tells her sweetly. “Now’s the time to let it show.”

Choking on a giggle, she smiles and begins wiping her tears as [Name] walks back to her bag to start packing up her things after the brilliant game. Takao shrugs the loss off, stretching over his head with a friendly smile as he approaches Midorima. “Whelp, even Oha Asa’s gotta be wrong sometimes.”

Midorima shows no emotion towards the loss, either, as cold as ever. “Shut up.”

“Huh?” Takao looks down when he feels a tap on his right shoulder, where a slender finger had poked him. Following the limb, his eyes meet spectacular [E/C] ones, so close he almost jumps. “Oh! Hello!”

[Name] holds out her hand as she flashes her pearly whites. “Hi! It’s spectacular to finally meet you, Takao Kazunari! I’m [Last Name][Name], and I just wanted to come over here to congratulate both of you on such a magnificent game! You both played extraordinarily well!”

Quickly getting over himself, Takao regains his charm with ease, shaking the girl’s hand firmly. “Why, thank you, [Last Name]-san! It was an exciting game, to say the least!”

She giggles before moving onto Midorima. “Oh, please! Call me [Name]! And Midorima Shintaro, the pleasure is all mine! Might I say, your shots are drop dead gorgeous! I could stare at your shooting form all day long!”

Midorima’s unsure of how to act as she thoroughly shakes his hand as well, Takao struggling to conceal his amusement towards his friend’s turmoil. “Erhm-...”

Once [Name]’s done shaking, she takes a step back, radiant smile still present as she decides to talk to the one capable of holding a conversation. “Mr. Takao, I must say, I’m very impressed. You surprised me with your ball handling skills. You’re a very observant player; I respect that. I’d love to play you sometime, one-on-one.”

He smirks. “You play?”

“Why, of course,” she tilts her head smugly.

“Well, then. I’d be happy to oblige,” he wiggles his brows flirtatiously. “Perhaps if we exchanged-...”

“[Nickname]-chan!” Izuki’s quick to interrupt, his fingers coiling around her waist and rolling along her ribcage, his tickling causing her to laugh profusely. He lifts her up onto his shoulders, sneaking a glance at Takao, warning him not to try anything sneaky as he protectively holds onto her thighs and walks her away. “Do I get a kiss on the cheek for playing so well?”

“Izu-chan! Put me down!” she giggles, playfully tugging his hair as he marches her away from the Shutoku pair.

Takao smirks. “I see they’re a rather protective bunch. No matter, she seems nice enough, huh?”

Midorima ignores him, calling his coach over. “Sir. If you don’t mind me asking: Who is that girl, and how do you know her?”

Coach Nakatani follows their gaze, landing upon [Name] as she’s paraded around on Izuki’s shoulders, laughing as they go. “Ah, that’s [Last Name][Name]. She’s an American basketball player, the best of the best in her age bracket. She’s even been known to beat professional NBA players one-on-one, you know.”

Takao’s eyes widen, unable to believe that the small girl currently being teased on the opposite side of the court could possibly triumph a professional. “You’re kidding!?”

He shakes his head, crossing his arms. “It’s rumored that she's been training to be an NBA player since she was barely a kid. And with her family name, she's acquainted with multiple NBA personalities.”

Both Takao and Midorima’s jaws drop, hanging slack at their coach’s words as he continues nonchalantly. “I’d expect nothing less from someone like her. She is the daughter of one of the most underrated basketball players of his time, after all. Don’t you boys recognize the name [Last Name]?”

Midorima’s tongue flies fast when he finally pulls the memory from the back of his mind; he knew he recognized her name when he first heard it! “Remmy [Last Name]…”

“Indeed,” their coach nods. “It would be wise of you boys to befriend a girl like her. She’s a one of a kind resource, and she’ll be gone before you know it.”

With that, the coach leaves the two to their thoughts, as they continue to stare at the Seirin manager in complete awe. No wonder she’s so intimidating. But why the hell is she here in Japan, managing a team like Seirin when her name alone has so much acclaim back in America? Furthermore, how the hell does no one know she’s here in the first place? Has no one recognized where she’s gone, or does everyone still think she’s still in America…?

The only thing that both boys do know, however, as they watch her get paraded back towards the locker rooms, is that no matter what, they need to befriend her before she’s torn back away to her life out west.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be the last basketball heavy chapter for awhile. Thank god. Don't get me wrong, I love writing about the games, but I could use a break lmao. More character development coming up, I guess :)


	8. Dining Table

After a humiliatingly close defeat, Midorima steps outside to take a moment to reflect in the rain. Having never experienced loss before, he doesn’t particularly know how to act. Why is it that he feels so angry? And why can’t he tell whether this anger is aimed towards his competitor or towards himself? As he begins to feel a painful tug at his heart, crawling up to his throat, his phone begins to ring. With a soft cough to clear his throat, Midorima pulls the cell out of his pocket and brings it up to his ear, only to hold it a good distance away when Momoi’s shrill voice nearly breaks his speaker. “Ah, Midorin! It’s great to talk to you again! How was the game!? Did you win? Did you lose? Which was it? Tell me!”

Not in the mood to deal with her barrage of questions at the moment, he hangs up without a word. As he rubs his temples to soothe his growing headache, the cell rings again. Groaning, he answers it once more. “What’s wrong with you? Enough already-...”

“Damn, you sound grouchy,” a different voice emits from the speaker; deeper, huskier.

“Aomine,” Midorima recognizes it immediately.

“I know, I know,” said former Miracle chuckles. “You lost, didn’t you?”

Midorima sharply exhales through his nose, letting the rain pound on him overhead. “Yes, I did. And you should be careful in the championship game..”

Aomine finds the warning amusing. “And why is that? Think Tetsu can actually stand a chance against me?”

“You’d be surprised, but it’s not him I’m talking about,” he rolls his eyes, though Aomine can’t see him do so through the phone. “Seirin’s got their hands on a new manager this year.”

“What’re you trying to tell me?” Aomine chuckles mockingly. “She hot or something?”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Midorima states harshly, neither confirming nor denying the question. “She’s a lot more clever than you’d think by looking at her.”

“...Dumb blonde looking, then?”

“No, nanodayo,” Midorima rubs his eyes, irritated. “I’m just trying to tell you that she’s good at what she does, and she’s sculpted Kuroko into a much stronger player than he was before.”

“Tch. What are you saying?” Aomine smirks cockily, raking a hand through his dark blue hair. “You know the only one who can beat me is me.”

“You haven’t changed, Aomine…” Midorima sighs. “Don’t you understand? You’re playing against Kuroko in the championship league, and now he’s got his own secret weapon.”

“The past is irrelevant,” the ace slurs. “We’re enemies, now, after all.”

Momoi grabs Aomine’s arm, pink hair bobbing as she jumps up and down to talk into the phone. “Sorry to bother you when you’re sad, Midorin! Cheer up!”

“Tch, shut up!” Midorima growls, ending the call immediately at the sound of her voice again.

Meanwhile, in the Seirin locker room, all that can be heard are groans of pain and turmoil, each and every one of the boys who had played today complaining as Riko tried to get them up to leave. Hyuga twitches. “Please, coach, we’ve just played two games against kings in one day…”

Kagami lays face-first on the floor in the corner, yelping as [Name] tries to work out a knot in his calf. “Gah! [Name], not so hard!”

“I’m being as gentle as possible!” she tells him before digging her knuckles into the muscle without warning, causing him to howl in pain. “At this point, I’m just gonna speed up the process a bit. You’ll thank me later.”

Riko sighs as she watches Kagami pound the floor with his fist, his legs flailing in [Name]’s lap. “Well, we can’t just stay here forever. Let’s head to the closest restaurant where we can chill out for a bit, yeah?”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With that, Seirin stumbles into a nearby mom and pop restaurant, which is somewhat crowded due to the thunderstorm outside. 

“Excuse me!” Riko greets cheerfully upon entering. “A few tables, please!”

“Welcome!” a few servers greet her and the rest of us jubilantly. “Wow, there’s so many of you! I’m not sure if we’ll have enough seats for you all!”

Mitobe carries me in on his back, his jacket over both his and my head to protect us both from the torrential downpour. I thank him gratefully before sliding off his back, his arms having unhooked from underneath my thighs. He nods with a small smile, silently telling me ‘you’re welcome’. I shake a couple of rain droplets out of my hair and turn to face Kuroko and Kagami with a smile.

The redhead, however, is pointing somewhere else. “Kise and Kasamatsu!”

They both sit at a table a few seats away, the former greeting Kagami nonchalantly with a wave, but the latter doesn’t take too kindly to his lack of formality. “Oi! No honorifics!?”

Recognizing their voices, I peek my head around Kagami, making myself known to the two with a beaming smile. “Ryoutacchi! Yuki-senpai! How wonderful it is to see you guys again!”

“[Name]cchi!” Kise brightens up immediately at the sight of me, not having cared much for Kagami.

Kasamatsu’s eyes widen to the size of saucers. “[N-Name]-san!”

I skip over to them jubilantly, humming as I slide into the booth next to Kasamatsu, his shoulders tense when I bump into him by accident. I wave over a waiter. “Three or four of us can sit with these two, if it makes it any easier on you guys!”

“Of course, miss! Thank you very much!”

“Don’t mention it!” I giggle before waving over the boys. “Tetsu-chan! Taiga! Come sit with us! Ooh, Taiga, sit next to me!”

With no objections to be made, Kagami squeezes into the booth with Kasamatsu and I while Kuroko sits across from us with Kise. It’s a bit of a tight fit, but I decided it would be best if Kagami sits on my side since I’m a bit smaller, making more room for three. Besides, I knew Kise would make Kuroko sit next to him in the first place. I’m aware it would probably be better if I sat with Kuroko and Kise as well; however, I don’t know if I’m in the mood for the copycat’s playful teasing right about now. I hope Kasamatsu doesn’t mind how squished together we are due to my selfishness.

Kise chortles. “Kasamatsucchi looks like he’s about to faint!”

I look up at him. He is rather red in the face. I begin fanning him off with a menu. “Oh, no. Are you feeling alright, Yuki-senpai?”

“Y-Yeah! C-Couldn’t be better!” he coughs, taking a drink of his water.

“Ah, [Name], what’s up with you and calling every guy you meet by pen names all of a sudden?” Kagami teases, not looking down at me.

I shove the toe of my sneaker into his calf, causing him to jerk and accidentally knee the table hard, in which he buckles over in pain as he tries not to scream at the top of his lungs. “I call my friends cute nicknames! Is that a problem?”

Biting his lip, he chokes out, “You don’t have a cute nickname for me!”

I cross my arms, smirking. “I just told you, idiot. I only call my friends cute nicknames!”

In reality, my sudden urge to call everyone I can nicknames is more to forcibly augment my social confidence, in a way. Calling people nicknames automatically strips formality and cuts straight to a closer bond between two people. Luckily, I can blame being a dumb American on the habit in case someone actually gets offended by it at some point. And, to be honest, I love how rebellious I feel by coming up with special names for my friends. To everyone else that probably doesn't seem like much of a deal. For me, however; I feel as if I'm leading a mass mutiny against my mother, who'd force me to do extra piano practice if I failed to refer to someone by mister/misses. 

Kuroko reaches across the table, holding out his fist to me as Kise bursts out laughing. I fist bump the bluette, his face stoic as he jokingly says, “Got ‘im.”

“Excuse me! Sir, do you have room for two-...”

My ears perk up at the familiar voice, and my posture straightens to look over at the booth. In come none other than Takao and Midorima. I can’t help but let a slow smile overtake my lips, beaming at the two happily. Their brows twitch anxiously at the sight of all of us.

“What’re you two doing here!?” Hyuga asks, not as eager to see them as I am.

Takao chuckles nervously, scratching his head. “Well, see, we lost the upperclassmen while Shin-chan was crying in the rain, so we figured we might as well stop and grab a bite to eat!”

With that being said, Midorima immediately turns to leave. “We’re going somewhere else.”

“Hey, Shin-chan, wait up!” Takao chases after him outside.

One big gust of wind and clap of thunder later, they’re back inside, soaking wet and not adapt to face the hell of a storm waiting for them outside. Biting my lip in an attempt to conceal my excitement, I give up and stand on the booth I sit on, waving my hands over my head. “You came back! Come sit with us, you two!”

“Ah, [Name]-san, was it?” Takao’s sour frown turns into a cheerful smile in the blink of an eye as he walks over. “I’d love to-... Wait a second! Are you Kaijo’s Kasamatsu!?”

Said third-year’s eyes widen as I slide back down to sit next to him, stammering a bit as I brush against his side in the movement. “Um, y-yeah, that’s me.”

Takao leans his palms against the table giddily, eyes sparkling like a child’s on Christmas day. “I saw you in Basketball Monthly! You’re nationally famous as a strong point guard! As someone who plays the same position, I’d love to hear your stories! Do you mind if we join you guys?”

Biting my lip once again, I grab Kasamatsu’s arm and shake it in a teasing manner. “Wow, Yuki-senpai~ What’s it like to be famous?”

This time, he gets over himself at the touch, smirking at me. “Coming from you, [Name]-san, that sounds like a joke.”

Now it’s my turn to blush. “Don’t say that, Yuki-senpai, it’s embarrassing! Anyway, of course you can join us, Mr. Takao!”

He pouts playfully. “No fair, [Name]-san. You call all these other guys cute nicknames! If I’m gonna be your friend, I want one, too!”

Humming softly, I place a finger on my chin. “Alright.... How’s Kazu-chan, then?”

He gasps in euphoria, beaming at me as if I’d just given him the key to happiness. “Holy shit! Yeah! I don’t want to hear you call me anything else!”  
“Kazu-chan it is, then,” I giggle.

Kagami’s jaw drops as he deadpans at me. “YOU’RE KIDDING! YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HIM YET AND YOU GIVE HIM A NICKNAME TOO!?”

I playfully slap him on the shoulder. “Careful, Taiga. Your yelling makes me think about dialing it down to Kagami.”

As the redhead slams his head against the table in aggravation, I help Kasamatsu worm by in order to sit with Takao at a table with a couple other Seirin players sitting at it. Meanwhile, I hop up and run over to the entrance, where Midorima is still attempting to dry himself off after being outside in the rain. I catch him by surprise when I take hold of his cold hand, which is much bigger than my own. My fingers can barely reach around the back of his hand to meet his palm as he looks down at me, eyes wide.

“Come, Mr. Midorima, sit next to me!” I chirp happily, pulling him along to the table I’d just been sitting at. “Scoot over, Taiga!”

And just like that, I sit wedged between Kagami and the sharp shooter from the Generation of Miracles, across from the GoM copy cat and phantom sixth player on top of that. There are no words to match the excitement bubbling in my chest right now as I eagerly await for any form of conversation to start, looking back and forth between the four males anxiously.

“That table is ridiculous!” Hyuga exclaims, the entire Seirin team gawking at the sheer prowess radiating from us five, all together in one place.

“Hey, hey!” Riko is in the same boat as me, grinning from ear to ear in elation. “Isn’t this so exciting!? Three miracles, one prodigy, and a champion, all sitting together! How fucking cool is that?”

Kasamatsu leans against his palm, glancing at the smug Takao beside him. “You wanted this to happen, didn’t you?”

“What? Of course not!” Takao fakes innocence, although no one was buying it. “I mean, I’d much rather [Name]-san be sitting next to me than Shin-chan, anyway. She’s so bubbly and he’s so tsun-tsun. Don’t want him affecting her charm!”

Bored of the thick tension at our table, Kuroko picks up a menu. “Why don’t we order something? I’m hungry.”

I grin at the proposal, grabbing my own menu. “Please! I’m starving!”

Kagami rolls his eyes, flicking me in the head. “As if you have anything to say, dummy. You did nothing but yell at us today.”

“Yeah, and yelling at you is a whole lot of work,” I muse, smacking him away.

Kise chuckles at me, amused by my behavior as he leans against his palm. “Kasamatsucchi and I ordered before you guys came in, so I’m fine with what I already have. You guys feel free to help yourselves.”

Midorima takes one look at his dish, scoffing. “I’m surprised you can eat that shit.”

Kise gasps. “Midorimacchi, why would you say that!? Kagamicchi, you’re ordering way too much!”

“What in the hell kind of incantation is that!?” Midorima adds in annoyance.

Meanwhile, Kagami is rapid fire listing off everything on the menu to the waiter beside me, who can barely keep up with his hefty order. Kuroko simply waves it off. “It’s all right. Kagami-kun will eat all of it himself. [Nickname]-chan, it’s your turn.”

“Oh, yes, may I please have-...” Kise’s eyes widen as I, too, rattle off a few different things from the menu for myself. Not nearly as much as Kagami’s getting, but most likely a bit more than he’d expect a girl my size to handle. “That’ll be all. Thank you very much!”

“Are either of you human?” the blond gawks and I giggle.

“We’re American,” Kagami smirks, nudging me playfully.

When the food comes out, I lick my lips and tuck my feet in to sit criss-cross on the booth. In order to do that with the little room I have, however, I’m going to have to prop a knee up on one of the boy’s laps next to me. I opt to scoot it onto Kagami’s, seeing as I know him much better than I do grumpy Midorima beside me.

Kagami looks down at me with a questioning look. “Get your leg off of me, [Name], I’m sore!”

“No can do!” I grin, biting my lip. “Sorry, but I’m too excited to be sitting here and eating with you all! I can’t stay still!”

Kise giggles at me once more before smirking at Midorima beside me, who stubbornly hasn’t started eating. “Aw, c’mon, Midorimacchi! I know losing sucks, but lighten up! Yesterday’s enemies are today’s friends!”

Midorima crosses his arms and sticks up his chin pompously. “I just lost to them! If anything, I can’t believe you have no problem sitting with them.”

The model smiles smalley. “Who cares if I lost? Look at these guys. They aren’t bad people for beating me. I mean, come on; isn’t [Name]cchi the most darling person you’ve ever met? They’ve just shown me that I need to work harder. And next time, I won’t lose.”

Swallowing a load of food, Kagami grins at him. “Bring it on.”

“You look like a fool. Clean yourself up!” Sighing, I grab a napkin and forcefully wipe off Kagami’s face. “Oh, and thank you, Ryoutacchi! I’m flattered! In any case, if you think I will ever let you beat my boys, you’re in for some trouble.”

Midorima eyes me before looking back at Kise, picking up his chopsticks. “You’ve changed some, Kise.”

“Really?” he asks, intrigued.

“Your eyes…. They’re strange,” Midorima continues.

Kise twitches. “Strange!?”

“I think your eyes are wonderful, Ryoutacchi,” I comfort him with a warm smile, my eyes sparking gold for a moment’s notice. “They glitter with such youthful innocence.”

Biting his lip, he fights off a blush well. “[Name]cchi, you’re too sweet. In any case, I think I’ve changed since playing Kurokocchi. Also, I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately, but…. It’s been pretty fun playing basketball with the guys at Kaijo.”

I turn back to face the conversation at my own table, having been distracted prior by Koganei trying to cook his food by throwing it in the air, splattering scolding hot grease onto everyone sitting with him. Midorima glances down, picking up a small portion of his meal. “It seems I was mistaken: You haven’t changed at all. You simply have reverted to a state from before our three consecutive championships at Teiko. Unlike you, however, I am not playing basketball to have fun.”

Kagami sets down his glass. “You guys think too much. Besides, don’t go saying stuff like that around [Name], here. She doesn’t like it. Gave me a good beating for it.”

With a playful smile, I reach up and brush my fingers against the red hand print, fading, but still lingering on his face. “I pack quite the punch, don’t I? Besides, no matter how much you lie to yourself, Mr. Midorima, of course you all play basketball because it’s fun.”

“You speak like you understand when truly you know nothing at all-...”

“[Name], ow! Stop bouncing your leg, it hurts!” Kagami suddenly grunts, throwing his chopsticks in order to grab my restless leg against his lap, gripping my thigh firm and still.

I blush. “Ah, sorry! My bad!”

“Oi! Pay attention to me when I’m talking to you, nanodayo-...”

When a sudden splat reaches my ears, I turn around to face Midorima once again, immediately holding my breath when I see uncooked food slowly oozing through his hair and down his face. I struggle to contain my laughter when I turn and meet the eyes of a fearful Takao, spatula in hand, most likely scared of the wrath he’ll soon be facing; whether it be due to him accidentally throwing the food on Midorima’s head while trying to cook it or for laughing after he had done it, I don’t truly know. We both miserably fail at concealing our amusement, however, and burst out into hysteria together.

Midorima glares at me, most likely expecting me to stop in order to avoid a death sentence, but that only makes me laugh harder, grabbing his shoulder in order to stabilize myself in the process. Brow twitching, he wipes the majority of the meal off his head and stands, swinging a leg over the booth in order to get out without climbing over top of Kagami and myself. “Excuse me… Takao. Come here.”

“Ah, sorry! Sorry!” he begs for his life as Midorima grabs him by the collar and drags him outside, a curt yelp able to be heard when the door closes behind them.

My eyes widen when I realize they’re headed to leave, not coming back inside. With haste, I hurdle over Kagami and run towards the door, throwing myself out into the wind and rain. “Wait!”

The two are already a few meters down the street when I stumble outside, nearly blowing over in the wind; Takao grips my shoulders to keep me stable. I notice the lump already forming on the side of his head, and he blushes slightly when he catches me staring at it. “Nothing to see here. You should head back inside. It’s getting foul out here.”

“Thanks for catching me, but I’ll be fine,” I smile, attempting to paw the hair out of my face that the wild wind blows in a frenzy of different directions. “But I can’t let you guys just leave like that without having any way of contacting you ever again! I demand you give me your phone numbers! I’m dying to play you guys some time, one-on-one!”

Takao’s eyes widen, but he’s quick to grin. “Of course! Here, stand on this side of me, I’ll try to keep the wind out of your eyes a bit.”

“Thank you!” I beam once again as he grabs my shoulders, twirling me around to the other side of him. “Hold on, let me get my phone…”

Takao grabs Midorima’s sleeve and pulls him closer, shoulder to shoulder with him as the hawk eye begins to slip his orange Shutoku basketball jacket off his shoulders. “Come now, Shin-chan! Don’t be such a tsun! Show some chivalry and block the rain out of this poor girl’s eyes.”

“Here’s my phone! If you could just add yours into my contacts-...” my eyes widen when Takao throws his jacket over my head, leaving himself in just the white t-shirt he was wearing underneath. “Oh, no, there’s no need for you to possibly-... You’re going to get soaked!”

“Nah, it’s no problem. You’re shivering, and I don’t want you to get all wet just to go back inside. I’m gonna get soaked on the way home, anyway,” he waves it off as he takes my phone and begins punching in his info. “Think of it as collateral. You can give it back to me next time we see each other, yeah?”

I giggle at his joking manner. “Okay, then. T-Thank you, Kazu-chan.”

“....Here you go! I took the liberty of putting Shin-chan’s in, too, seeing as he’s being a total jackass right now,” he smirks, handing back the device before holding a hand out for me to shake. “Well, it was very nice to meet you, [Name]-san.”

Grinning, I ignore his hand and go in for an embrace instead; he’s shocked at first, which I can sense through his tense muscles. I've only just discovered how wonderful hugs are; I don't think I've received a proper hug since I was very young. Although I can't quite remember how they felt exactly, I can recall how warm my father's are. My brother's, too. Eventually, Takao relaxes and returns the embrace, palms against my lower back. “Sorry, I know I was being formal before, but I’m more of a hugger! Mr. Midorima, it was wonderful to meet you, too!”

He looks down at me, eyebrow twitching, but something in his expression changes at the sight of my beaming face. He sighs. “Tch. You don’t have to go around calling me Mr. Midorima. It sounds like you’re talking to my father, nanodayo…”

“Oh, sure. Hm, what should I call you, then? Surely not Shin-chan, like Kazu-chan does... How about Mido-kun, then?” I ask, eyes growing wide with happiness. “O-Or if you don’t want me to call you that at all, that’s fine. I’ll call you whatever you’d like me to.”

His face contorts at first as Takao snorts at the statement, but Midorima gives me an answer I honestly wasn’t expecting. “...I’m fine with you calling me that, [Name]. Takao, however-....”

Overwhelmed with joy, I jump up and hug him as well, resting my head against his chest. He’s so much taller right in front of me. He didn’t seem this big when I was watching him play earlier today. I’m not too upset he doesn’t return the hug. I didn’t expect him to, anyway. I give them one last smile, as sweet as I can muster. “Thank you guys so much! You’re both insanely talented players; nice people, too. I can tell. I can’t wait to see you both again. Take care!”

“Bye-bye,[Name]-chan!” Takao grins as I run back inside, snorting as he teases Midorima again, though, I can’t quite catch what he says.

Kagami almost chokes on his food at the sight of me. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WEARING A SHUTOKU JACKET, MORON!?”

“Kazu-chan gave it to me,” I chirp, slipping my arms into its sleeves before hopping over the booth to finish eating. “Now, I’m so hungry. Can we finally just finish eating?”

And for the next half hour or so, we all chat like normal friends while eating together. Kasamatsu had moved back to our table in order to sit with people he knew at least a little bit better rather than the rest of Seirin. I tease him for being famous --Kise, too-- resulting in him calling us both hypocrites. When he says this, I suddenly realize something.

“Yuki-senpai!” I gasp out of nowhere, startling him a bit.

“What is it?” he looks at me.

“I just realized! I don’t have yours or Ryoutacchi’s cell phone numbers!” I exclaim, digging my phone out of my pocket. “How silly of me not to have asked you both until now. May I…?”

“Of course!” Kise’s the first to respond, reaching over the table to grab it from me.

“Thank you!” I bounce in my seat giddily. “I want to be able to keep in contact with all you guys. I have everyone on Seirin’s team in my contacts, but I’d love to have a couple more talented people I can reach out to at a moment’s notice.”

“Here you go! Kasamatsucchi, put yours in, too!” Kise grins, handing the third year my phone, his eyes lingering on the fitting phone case.

Said male nearly drops the phone as it’s handed to him, but catches it skillfully before it can fall. His smile is small as he punches his number into my phone before handing it back to me gingerly. My grin is wide as I take it back, about to say thank you when someone interrupts by our table.

“You done pulling numbers, [Name]-san, or are you gonna go talk up a couple other dudes?” Hyuga teases, the rest of the team cleaning up and getting ready to leave. “C’mon. The storm’s cleared up and it’s late. We should be headed home.”

“Ah, right!” I hurriedly gulp down the last of my water, chewing on an ice cube that slipped into my mouth as well. “Don’t let me hold you guys back. Let’s get to it. Ah, Ryoutacchi, Yuki-senpai. Would you guys like to join us?”

Kise smiles before glancing at Kasamatsu. “Actually, Kasamatsucchi drove us here, and his car is still back at the stadium, so we’ll need to go back and get it.”

My eyes widen. “Oh my god, I nearly forgot that I drove here, too! Thank goodness you said something, or I would’ve completely left my car in the parking lot. Is it alright if I walk with you guys back to the stadium, then?”

“Yeah, of course!” Kise nods as he stands from the table, leaving his tip. He grins at me while grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. “It wouldn’t be right of us to make a young and beautiful lady such as yourself walk all on her lonesome in the city at night. We’ll wait for you and your team.”

I smile warmly at his words. “Thanks, you two. I really appreciate it.”

With that being said, the two Kaijo members join the Seirin team outside the restaurant as we exchange a couple goodbyes for the night. Of course, Hyuga has to give a quick pep talk. “All right! On to the championship league! I expect to see you all bright and early tomorrow morning for practice-... Huh? Where’s Kuroko gone?”

“Here,” I glance over my shoulder to face the bluette, eyes growing at the adorable sight he holds in his arms. “I found a dog.”

“A DOG!?” the whole team shouts in unison.

“Don’t take it home! It could be a stray!” Hyuga adds.

I begin to quiver in elation at the cute creature sitting in a beaten up cardboard box that Kuroko holds. It’s a small little husky breed, it seems. His little ears perk up when he looks at me, little tail wagging back and forth very quickly. That’s when I notice it. I look back and forth between Kuroko and the dog, both of them looking me dead in the eyes. Both of their eyes… they’re the same shape, same shade of blue….

I squeal, running over to the puppy and holding him in my arms as I jump up and down. “He’s so cute!”

That’s when Riko dips out of the restaurant to join us after thanking the owners for hosting such a noisy bunch. She groans. “[Name]-chan, stop squealing. You’re going to disturb the neighbors-...”

That’s when she lays her eyes on the little furball I hold, and her face brightens up as she runs over and rips him out of my grasp, twirling him around with her. “Kya! He’s so cute and fluffy! Aw, where did you come from? You’re so cute!”

“Coach, please calm down,” Hyuga deadpans.

“Wait a minute,” Riko stops, studying the dog’s face thoroughly. “Doesn’t he look like someone...?”

That’s when I take the puppy back, holding him up to Kuroko’s face, lining up their eyes. Neither of them blink, and the team sees the resemblance, too, bursting out into startled yells. Izuki points at the creature like it’s a demon. “The eyes! THE EYES!”

Koganei grins, pointing at it. “You shall be named Tetsuya No. 2! Nigou for short!”

Izuki sighs, scratching the puppy’s ears from over my shoulder. “I can’t believe people still abandon their dogs in the streets…”

I can’t help but giggle at their reaction before cuddling the happy puppy close to my chest, scratching behind his ears before I peer over my shoulder at a certain someone standing as far away from me as possible. “Hey, I’ve been wondering…. Taiga? What are you doing all the way over there?”

Said redhead jumps at the sound of his name, the fear in his eyes genuine as he takes another step back from me. “Uh, well… I really can’t handle dogs…”

I snort, running over to him. “Don’t be like that, Taiga! How can you be scared of dogs, you’re from America!”

“Get away from me, [Name]!” he yelps, running away as I approach him.

With a sigh of defeat, I give Nigou one last pat on his head before handing him back to Kuroko. “Well, I suppose I’ve held Ryoutacchi and Yuki-senpai up long enough. Say, Tetsu-chan? Izu-chan? You both live on the way to my house. Either of you need a lift?”

“Isn’t it illegal to drive more than one person at your age, [Name]-san?” Kasamatsu asks, arching a brow.

I blow him off. “Pffft, don’t be a buzzkill, Yukio-senpai. I’m a safe driver.”

Izuki chuckles. “As long as you don’t kill me, I’ll come along. I didn’t even know you had a driver’s license.”

“Oh, well I got it over in America, so it didn’t take too long to have it transferred over to Japan, as well,” I explain with a small smile. “You coming, Tetsu-chan?”

“You don’t mind if Nigou comes in your car? I don’t want him to make a mess,” he asks politely.

“Nah, I don’t care. Bring the cutie,” I giggle before hooking an arm with Kise, waving to the rest of the team as the five of us head off in the opposite direction. “See you all tomorrow! Let’s go, Ryoutacchi!”

With that, we skip happily along the pavement, Izuki watching with an amused smile and Kasamatsu scoffing, Kuroko walking silently behind them. The blond and I chat happily before slowing down to rejoin the group as we all make our way back to the parking lot, looking like a group of teenage buddies hanging out on a Saturday night in the city.

And I couldn’t be happier than I am right now.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday morning practice the next day rolls around pretty quick, and Kuroko brings Nigou to the gym with him, having no one to watch the pup on such short notice. I squeal as the dog happily trots over to me, panting softly before yapping cheerfully at my feet. I crouch down and rub onto the dog, scratching behind his ears fondly.

Koga smirks as he joins me, patting Nigou’s back. “Aren’t you quite the talker, No. 2?”

At the sight of the dog, Kagami sprints to the other side of the gym, faster than I’ve ever seen him run before. Riko gives him a pitiful look. “You really don’t like them, huh?”

He gulps, huddled in the corner as he looks at her painfully. “Y-Yes…”

“Kagami-kun...” the redhead slowly turns to look at Kuroko, who stands over him, holding a happy Nigou up to his face as he pouts at him. “Don’t say that. Look at him, he’s so cute!”

Kagami lets out a high pitched scream before booking it away from the bluette, who chases him around the gym in laps. “Get away from me, Kuroko! I’ll kill you later!”

In total unison, the entire team agrees, “He’s doing it on purpose.”

I pout, looking at the mischievous spark in Kuroko’s eye. “No fair. I was gonna do that, but Tetsu-chan beat me to it…”

“I think you’re starting to rub off on him, [Name]-chan,” Koganei teases, poking me in the side.

I hum delightfully when I see Kuroko’s subtle smirk. “Perhaps…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter update short chapter update short chapter update
> 
> It's refreshing to write less about the basketball and more about the characters and their interactions with one another. Though, it does make for a lot more dialogue and slightly shorter chapters, so sorry if it felt kind of choppy while you were reading this. Also, I'm a simp for Takao Kazunari. Enjoy the idea of him giving you his jacket in the rain. 
> 
> One last thing for the Haikyuu readers-- They are coming! Within the next couple of chapters, I promise!


	9. Extraordinary

One day at practice, [Name] shows up just a couple minutes late to find everyone on the team huddled around Riko on the opposite side of the gym. Curious as to what they could be talking about without her acknowledgemnt, she sets her school bag down and casually joins them. As soon as the Coach lays eyes on the manager, she snatches her wrist and drags her over to her side.

“Thank goodness you’re here, [Name]-chan,” she says, holding a stack of papers in her hands. “We’re in trouble.”

“How so?” the girl arches a brow before looking out over the team of boys, who seem just as clueless.

Riko clears her throat. “As you all know, midterms are coming up. And while our school’s midterms have no effect on whether or not a student can continue participating in a club or not, there is still a repercussion for flunking in any subject. If you fail a section of the exam, you will be required to attend a supplementary class for one whole weekend. The same weekend that the championship match for our sector is scheduled to be.”

Now [Name] understands why Riko holds that stack of papers grimly, and why a good portion of the boys before her begin to sweat a little bit nervously. “Ah, so no one can fail a subject. That shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“I agree, but just in case, I collected everyone’s previous exam scores from last year’s finals to see where each of us are in each subject,” Riko holds up the papers. “Your old high school in America even sent me a copy of yours, [Name]-chan. But I haven’t had a chance to look through them yet, so I decided we could just do it at practice.”

And so the team glances over each player’s exam scores. All of the second years appear to be in good shape for the exam, even if their grades are a bit on the average side for some of them. At least they’re consistent and most likely won’t fail a subject. The same for the first years; Kuroko’s grades represent him well, consistently average. Then comes Kagami’s old exam scores, and Riko begins to sweat profusely.

“Kagami-kun….” she gains the redhead’s attention lowly. “HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SO BAD AT MATH AND HISTORY!?”

[Name] and Hyuga both peer over her shoulder, cringing at the very low scores on either subject from the previous year. Kagami folds his arms, arching a brow. “So what? I’m not good at school stuff, just basketball. Why do you think I play it?”

“IDIOT!” Riko wacks him over the head with the thick stack of papers. “YOU DO REALIZE YOU WON’T BE PLAYING AT ALL IF YOU FAIL EITHER ONE OF THESE MIDTERMS!?”

Kagami’s brow twitches. “Yeah, I guess I should probably do something about that…”

While Riko continues to beat on the unacademic ace, Izuki gasps as he picks up the stacks of papers the coach had abandoned, glancing over the only one left. “[N-Nickname]-chan... These are your exam grades from America…?”

Interest peaked by those words, a couple other people, including Riko, move to see what Izuki is left so speechless about, and Riko gasps, yanking the paper from his hand and waving it in the manager’s face. “HOW THE HELL DID YOU SCORE PERFECTLY IN EVERY SUBJECT!?”

Feeling attacked, almost, and embarrassed by all the attention, [Name] takes a couple steps back to distance herself. “I-It’s nothing, really. My mother just had very high standards for my grades and made me study in the majority of my free time. Besides, my scores will probably be different over here on Japan’s midterms. I struggle more with Japanese than I do with English!”

“You’re better at Japanese than Kagami-kun is, and he is Japanese,” Kuroko states dryly, earning a shove from the easily-angered redhead. 

“Wait a minute…” Riko suddenly beams. “You, Kagami-kun, and Kuroko-kun are all in the same homeroom, right, [Name]-chan?”

“Oh, yeah,” she answers meekly.

“Perfect! You can help tutor both of them!” she claps happily.

“Huh?” [Name] tilts her head slightly. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to help out. Taiga’s scores I understand, but what’s wrong with Tetsu’s?”

“While he has rather good grades in the majority of his classes, there’s just one inconsistency,” Riko sighs, shuffling through the pile of papers and pulling out Kuroko’s scores once more, pointing to one subject in particular. “He’s just barely making it through English.”

[Name] blinks, eyes wide before beaming. “Lucky for you, Tetsu-chan, because I read, write, and speak English fluently!”

“Do I really have to get tutored by [Name]?” Kagami groans. “I already see her more often than I want to with our physical therapy sessions. I’d rather spend as much time as I can away from her.”

“Well, if I’m going to be tutoring you everyday, I might as well make it enjoyable,” [Name] grins. “I think I’ve known you guys long enough to invite you over to my place finally, yeah?”

Unsure of what to expect, Kagami and Kuroko get into [Name]’s car after practice and head back to her apartment with her. They’ve never seen [Name]’s home before, nor ever really thought about it. They each chat with her as they usually do as she drives them away from the school, her phone playing music through the bluetooth speakers with the windows down, seeing as summer is quickly gaining on them. And it only takes about ten minutes before they reach their destination. Kagami and Kuroko gaze at the huge and luxurious apartment complex on the side of the street they pull off to. They don’t have too much time to gawk out the window before [Name] pulls into the large and private garage on the side of the building, having to authorize herself before being allowed inside.

She pulls into a parking space next to a luxurious looking Tesla, custom wrapped. The people that live in this complex must be rich as hell, being able to own cars like that. [Name] grins and hops out of the car, grabbing her bag as she does. “Let’s go!”

Kuroko and Kagami follow her like ducklings through the garage and into the main lobby, not wanting to stray far away from her and get lost. She waves in a friendly manner towards the receptionists, who smile warmly at her as she leads the two boys to an elevator. As they file in behind her, they watch which button she pushes; floor thirteen, the very top floor. [Name] hums to herself as they wait, reaching the top rather quickly. When the elevator doors slide open again with a ding, they reveal for there only to be a single door on this floor; no hallway or anything.

[Name] exits the elevator and approaches said door, fishing a set of keys out of her bag. She puts a pin into the number pad beside the door as well as inserts the key, unlocking it easily and swinging the door open before stepping aside. “Welcome! I hope you two can make yourself at home, here, seeing as we’re probably going to be spending the majority of the next two weeks here to prepare for exams!”

Kuroko and Kagami are both left completely speechless by the glamorous penthouse before them. As they step inside, the ceiling they look up at has to be twenty feet above their heads. There’s a tall foyer through the entrance, where there’s a mirror on the wall to the left as well a place to put your shoes. The two quickly shuffle their shoes off and excuse themselves for intruding politely.

[Name] snorts. “As if you two could ever intrude. Please, make yourselves at home.”

Through the foyer, the rest of the luxurious flat opens up. To the immediate left is the open kitchen, with stainless steel fridges and stoves and a large marble island in the center with stools. To the rights is a decently large dark wood dining table, where they count ten chairs to be sitting at. On the same side of the apartment but farther on is the large living room. A glimmering and crystalline chandelier hangs from the high ceiling over the living area, glittering even brighter as [Name] turns the rest of the lights on. It reflects off of the completely glass wall to the right, leading to a balcony outside looking over the city. The living room consists of a light gray L-shaped couch along with two darker gray armchairs, all surrounding a dark gray coffee table in the center. A bit past this room stands a shiny grand piano, right next to the windows.

To the left of this living area is a small at-home bar, the counters also the same shade of dark wood with shelves of many different liquors lining behind it, along with a couple high stools. Then there’s a narrow hallway leading out of this main open area to the left, in between the kitchen and the bar. It can only be assumed that’s where her bedroom and bathroom are. And while the majority of her home is modernly designed with monochrome colors consisting of white, gray, and black, [Name]’s thrown her own flare into the design with [F/C] accents everyone. Such as the [F/C] stools at the island and bar, [F/C] chairs at the dining table, [F/C] artworks hanging on the walls, the [F/C] throw pillows on the couches and so on.

“Holy shit, [Name]…” Kagami breathes softly, still taking it all in. “I know you’re relatively well-known back in America, but it’s not like you’re a hotshot celebrity. I mean, you’re hardly ever recognized over here. I didn’t know you had this much money.”

She shrugs somewhat meekly. “Well, when you’re born into a family where your father is an NBA player and your mother is an olympic gold medalist, you’re bound to have a lot of money to go with it. Though, most of the money that went into this place was my own.”

“Well, I guess you know how to spend it well,” Kagami follows up with a grin.

Once again, [Name]’s smile is smaller than usual. “Well, the only reason I bought a place to live in this nice is to share it with other people, you know. It gets really lonely here, actually, and you two are my first ever guests. To be honest, I’m really excited to start inviting more people over here. I’d love my house to be a hangout place where there’s always things going on. It’s much more enjoyable to have good people around.”

“That’s very kind of you, [Name]-chan,” Kuroko smiles smalley, as well.

[Name] quickly changes the subject, pointing to the hallway. “Down the hall there’s two guest bedrooms in case either of you need a place to stay the night. And each bedroom has its own bathroom. Oh, and the laundry room is at the very end of the hall, so I can wash your uniforms for you guys if you need me to. In the laundry room is where the stairs are to go up to my bedroom.”

“There’s an upstairs!?” Kagami exclaims.

“Yes,” [Name] giggles softly before gasping. “And I need to go up there for something, actually! You two can come along if you’d like to see.”

Not leaving them much time to decide, [Name] canters down the hall, a door on either side along with some closets before reaching the end, where the laundry room is. She has two of each machine, one currently whirring with a load of clothes inside. To the right is a modern floating staircase, sleek and black. [Name] skips up them two at a time, Kuroko and Kagami following not far behind. At the top of the staircase is a loft that neither of the boys noticed before, looking over the bar and living room, the chandelier at the same level as the footing of the loft.

While there’s a door that leads to one more room, which takes up the majority of the loft, around the corner is another living area with another couch, this one completely made of [F/C] leather and beside the railing. On the wall of the room [Name] heads into is a flat screen television in front of the couch. Instead of looking at the upstairs living area in more detail, the two first years follow [Name] into what they can only assume is the master bedroom.

And indeed their assumptions are right. The backboard of her king-sized bed is against the opposite wall, which is painted a nice gray color, as well as the two others; the left is once again made completely out of glass. Her bed has gray covers but [F/C] and white pillows. In the far right corner of her room is a darkwood desk, which is a bit cluttered right now with papers and binders. The wall where the door is holds another television as well as a bookshelf beneath it. There are two doors on either side of her bed, the one on the left slightly ajar and leading to the master bathroom. The one on the right is a humble walk-in closet; nothing too large, but still a walk-in, nonetheless. There are other smaller things within [Name]’s room, such as a guitar stand, full-body mirror, and an easel; the wall over her desk is covered with countless artworks and posters and stuff.

The first place [Name] dashes over to, however, is a crate in the corner by her closet, where a nearly full-grown doberman pinscher had been dozing before they came in. Now that [Name] is crouching before it, the dog gets up from its bed inside the cage and wags its cropped tail happily.

“Hello, beautiful boy,” [Name] coos, unlocking the door and letting the dog jump out and fawn over her happily as she pets him. “Oh, who’s a good boy, Pharaoh? I missed you, too!”

“I didn’t know you had a dog, [Nickname]-chan,” Kuroko walks over to crouch beside her, scratching Pharoah behind his ears as the dog pants happily. “You never told me.”

She giggles as the doberman licks her face. “Well, Pharaoh only started living with me about two weeks ago. You see, from a young age up to just a month ago, when he turned a year old, he was trained by a professional guard dog academy. Of course I made sure to visit him as often as I could so that it was clearly established that I was his owner; the one he’s meant to protect. And he’s just as loveable as he was when he was a puppy. I just have to keep him crated whenever I’m not home for about a month after getting him; while I’m home I can train him what he can and cannot do. Like I’m fine with him going on the couches and stuff, but if he needs to go to the bathroom I have to make sure he knows to go to the mat in the laundry room. As soon as he learns that I can get rid of the cage.”

“Wow. He seems like a great dog,” Kuroko admits, continuing to pet the happy canine. “He’s not full grown yet?”

“Almost. About another month or two and he’s set to hit the hundred pound mark,” [Name] chirps. “Hey, where’d Taiga go?”

Kuroko points to the bathroom on the other side of the bed. “He ran in there as soon as he saw you had a dog. I think he’s hiding.”

[Name] rolls her eyes. “Taiga! Pharaoh is completely harmless. He would never hurt anyone unless that person was trying to hurt me. So as long as you don’t try to kill me, you’re safe. Besides, Pharaoh listens to every command I give him.”

Slowly, Taiga peeks out of the doorframe. “P-Prove it.”

Amused, [Name] stands and smiles at the large doberman before her; standing, the dog reaches a height just above her hips. “Sit. Good boy. Heel; this command brings him to my left side, and he won’t leave it unless I tell him to. And when I say come, he walks with me on this left side. See? And there are other commands too that I won’t show you, because they’re only supposed to be used in situations where I’m in danger and he’s protecting me. There’s one where he’ll run a circle around me so that he can protect from all sides and other cool stuff like that. But he won’t hurt you, Taiga. I can have him sit while you meet him, even. I just want Pharaoh to be able to discern the people I welcome into my house from the people I don’t. It’ll be good for him to know the people who are my friends from strangers trying to break in, you know?”

“[Name], I don’t know… You know I can’t stand dogs…”

“Taiga, by doing this, you’ll be preventing an incident like yours from even happening with Pharaoh,” rolling her eyes again, [Name] puts a hand on her hip as she tells Pharaoh to sit; the dog happily complies, panting in Kagami’s direction. “He wants to know if you’re welcome here, Taiga. I recommend you come show him you’re one of the good ones.”

Slowly, Kagami gives in and inches over, very tentatively holding his hand out towards the dog. Pharaoh sniffs Kagami’s large hand, continuing to pant happily. And as Kagami pets Pharaoh's cropped ears, the dog begins wagging his behind seeing as he lacks the tail to do so. [Name] beams proudly. “See? That wasn’t so hard!”

Kagami groans, stepping away quickly again now that he’s pet him. “There. Now he knows I’m not a bad guy. Can we just go study now?”

“Oh, right!” [Name] chirps, whistling a tune that perks Pharaoh back up and he follows her out the door of the bedroom. “We can set up in the kitchen if you want; I like doing work at the island. And I can order pizza, if you guys would like.”

“Please,” Kagami groans as they head downstairs. “I’m famished.”

“Pizza sounds good,” Kuroko agrees. 

“All right, then. I can grab some stuff to help Taiga out with math for tonight. We can focus on history every other day,” [Name] begins saying, but it sounds more as if she’s speaking to herself. “And Tetsu-chan, you can just tell me what areas of English you need the most help in. I can do it all, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’m fine with reading, it’s writing and speaking that I struggle with,” he admits stoically.

“Good thing I speak the language fluently, then,” she states in English rather than Japanese, making it a bit harder for Kuroko to understand, but Kagami, having lived in America for most of his life, picks up on it quickly.

“He can’t understand you when you speak in English, [Name],” he smirks. “It’s much more difficult to pick up English words while listening instead of reading.”

“That’s true for learning any language, Taiga,” she deadpans.

Meanwhile, Kuroko slumps a bit. “I can’t help but think you guys are talking about me, but I can’t understand what you’re saying very well.”

“Don’t worry, Tetsu-chan. The best way to learn a language is individually with a native speaker, so I’ll help improve your English in no time,” [Name] beams before smirking at the taller boy in her home. “It’ll probably be a bit more difficult to cram some common math skills into Taiga’s head, though…”

“Shut up!”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Everyday after practice, Kuroko and Kagami come back to my place for our study sessions. They’ve actually been going so well that a couple other of the players who have been stressing about the exams join us every once in a while to tune up in their problem subjects as well. Eventually, almost everyone on the team has visited my place at least once, which makes me beyond happy. I love having people over more than anything. And every once in a while, Kuroko and Kagami spend the night in the guest rooms, wanting to stay as late as possible to cram in their studying.

Kuroko is a very easy student to tutor. He learns things traditionally and quickly. He’s willing to continuously rewrite lines of English until he gets the grammar correct and constantly listen to me say certain words in order to get the pronunciation correct. I’m not worried about him failing the English portion of the exam at all.

Kagami, however, is a different story. He gets frustrated way too easily when working on math, in which snapping pencils has become a recurring theme. And when it comes to memorizing important dates and figures in history, he gives up much too quickly after failing once. So I had to get a bit creative with him. While Kuroko continued to work on his English at the island in the kitchen, one day, I had Kagami help me push all the furniture in my living room towards the balcony. Once there’s a clear and open area instead of couches and rugs, I hand him a basketball and tell him to start dribbling. Confused at first, he eventually did what I said. As he dribbled, I recited a few important dates to him, matching them with historical events. I then told him to repeat them to me, performing a different move to get around an opponent for each one. Spin move after pump fake he repeated each date back to me correctly, to his astonishment. Since that day, the furniture in my living room remains shoved aside so that he can study as efficiently as possible with the basketball.

I did have to apologize to my downstairs neighbors for the constant dribbling, but luckily, I happen to know the two pretty well, seeing as they’re my personal bodyguards. 

Eventually, two weeks pass and the exams are upon us. All eyes are on Kagami as he and the rest of us first years file into the classroom for our math exam. The second years from the team come to wish us luck beforehand, seeing as they don’t have an exam for today. Riko shoots me a look that seems to be asking ‘how-do-you-think-he’ll-do’, and I respond with a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. Honestly, I think Kagami has made so much progress when it comes to math. Sure, he isn’t the best at it and he definitely won’t do astoundingly well, but at least he’ll be able to scrape by with at least a 75 or higher.

After Kuroko hands both him and me lucky pencils he stole from Midorima in middle school, the exam begins, and for the next hour and a half we pour over numerous standard math problems and equations. I’m not the first to finish, but I’m also not the last. With about five minutes left, I begin looking over my answers, ensuring I didn’t bubble in any wrong answers on the scantron or miss any of the written sections. I don’t, however, go over my answers to make sure they're correct. If I do that, I’ll begin to second guess myself, which never ends up in my favor. I stick with my gut and turn in what I have with just a minute to spare.

Kagami turns his in at the end when the proctor calls him up, and I give him a hopeful look. He only shrugs. I suppose I can’t expect anything more. The rest of the exams seem to go well for everyone, as well. I feel rather confident about all of them; even the Japanese Lit one. And not too long after, the exam scores are released, and we once again huddle around Riko as she looks through them all during practice.

Everyone in the second year passes, the majority of them with flying colors. Furihata, Fukuda, and Kawohara also do very well. Next comes Kuroko, whose scores all turn out being high, his lowest being English, which was an 81. I give him a very proud slap on the back. Next comes who we’ve all been waiting for; Kagami’s.

“83 on science, 96 on English, 86 on Japanese, an 80 on History and… a 77 on Math!” Riko announces happily, and the team cheers, shoving Kagami around in a playful manner as the redhead grins proudly. “Well done, Kagami-kun. Your work with [Name]-chan really paid off.”

“Speaking of [Name]-chan,” Koga grins, snatching the last exam sheet from Riko and reading over it. “I wanna see what she got!”

Izuki leans over his shoulder, deadpanning. “She scored perfect on every subject… again.”

“No, no, no!” I snatch the paper, looking over it before grinning and pointing at a certain section. “I didn’t score perfectly on Japanese, so ha!”

Hyuga deadpans at my mocking tone. “You got a 96 on Japanese, [Name]…”

“Y-Yeah, and that’s not perfect!” I defend myself nervously. “So Izu-chan was wrong!”

“Why are you even trying to deny you did the best?” said vice-captain deadpans before teasingly messing up my hair. “Whatever. I suppose that means all of us get to attend the championship match, then.”

“Hell yeah it does!” Riko cheers with a grin. “Now that exams are over, the real practices are going to start tomorrow.”

Everyone groans at this news, unprepared for what Riko has planned for them.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For resistance training, Riko had scheduled the school pool for the basketball club’s use for the day. Stripped down to their swim trunks, the boys stand in the pool, doing every single exercise their coach tells them to. At the moment, they must do a squat thrust in the pool every time she blows her whistle, which is at a fast pace that some of them struggle to keep up with.

Once she gives them a short break, Izuki groans, pushing some wet hair our of his eyes. “These pool exercises are tough…”

Koga catches his breath, nodding. “Kuroko-kun would probably agree with that.”

They all turn to look at the bluette, floating dead man on the water’s surface. A few of them wonder if he’s drowned and died at that point, but a couple bubbles that surface around his face deny that. Hyuga jumps into action. “Kuroko, don’t sleep! You can’t just float there, you’ll drown, dumbass!”

As the exercises resume, Kagami watches from the bench in jealousy. Fully clothed, Riko had forbid him from participating due to his leg injuries from the Shutoku game. He isn’t even allowed to participate in practices, either, for a whole week. Instead, [Name] had been engaging him in physical training to rehabilitate him. He would be doing it with her today, had she been there. She’s running late again, for who knows why.

Therefore, the entire team expects her to be the one who walks in when the doors to the pool fly open. However, none of them recognize the voice of the girl who walks in. “Oh my, what an adorable dog!”

All of the boys in the pool gasp for air at the sight of the pinkette in the teal bikini, nearly choking on the water they try to inhale. She’s a bit shorter than [Name], looking to be around 160 cm. However, she has things that [Name] doesn’t to make up for her lack of height. For example, although the boys would never admit it aloud to anyone, especially not her, [Name] was lacking when it came to cup size. According to Koga’s creepy analysis of her chest in a tight t-shirt at practice one day, he claimed that she is indeed a mesely 32-A. Though, Riko knows they’re closer to being a 32-B with her otherworldly eyes; boobs always seem smaller from a male’s perspective. Meanwhile, this chic rocks a set of 34-F’s, which she flaunts with pride.

Her skin is rather porcelain in comparison to [Name]’s naturally sunkissed flesh. Although her bust is infinitely larger than [Name]’s, she isn’t as curvy; she’s much thinner. Her legs are a bit shorter, but much slimmer and petite, a visible thigh gap able to be seen when she stands. Her waist is thinner, along with her hips, her muscles less defined. Not to mention her ass is rather flat compared to what the team has seen when [Name] wears a pair of her tight leggings. 

None of them could complain about the physical appearance of the teenage girl standing before them, however. Her physique is insane for her age, being sixteen. One of them, however, isn’t impressed. Kuroko pulls himself out of the pool to stand before her, and she recognizes him immediately.

“Tetsu-kun!” she shrieks happily, running over to him and tackling him into an embrace. “I’ve missed you so much, Tetsu-kun!”

He wheezes as she presses her large bust into his chest. “Momoi-san, please. I can’t breathe….”

Koga dips his face halfway below the water in order to muffle his scream. “I’m incredibly jealous, Kuroko-kun! You lucky bastard, I hope you die!”

One by one, all the guys begin getting out of the pool, to Riko’s dismay. “Wait, Kuroko, you know her!?”

“Don’t you know?” Momoi giggles, clinging onto the bluette’s back cheerfully. “My name’s Momoi Satsuki! I’m Tetsu-kun’s girlfriend!”

The bluette deadpans as they all begin screaming in shock, asking questions at a rapid fire rate. “No she’s not. Stop telling lies, Momoi-san.”

She pouts. “But you gave me a popsicle in junior high, Tetsu-kun…”

As Momoi gives the entire team her romanticized backstory when she met Kuroko, which had in reality just been him gifting her a contest winning popsicle stick he had no use for, Riko pulls Hyuga aside to speak to him. She deadpans as he keeps glancing over at the shrill pinkette. “Stop stealing glances at her, you idiot!”

His eyes widen as she slaps him, shoving him into the pool. Momoi gasps. “Careful! Don’t kill Mr. Hyuga!”

Said captain arches a brow at her when he surfaces in the deep end of the pool. “How do you know my name?”

“I know all of you! I’m the manager of Touou Academy’s basketball club, after all,” she giggles, naming them all off one by one until she finally reaches Riko, giving her a mocking smile as she points at the orange swim top the coach wears. “And finally, the barely B-coach, Aida Riko!”

No one dares laugh at the nickname Momoi gave their coach, innocently whistling and looking away as Riko becomes enraged, face fuming. “DON’T BE RIDICULOUS! What’s your problem!?”

Momoi ignores her and turns back to Kuroko, who stands beside Nigou, sitting beside him. Kagami watches from the bench as the girl kneels down to pet the puppy, but Nigou scoots away, whining softly. Momoi sighs with a sad smile. “I really did want to go to the same school as you, Tetsu-kun, but who knows what Dai-chan would do if I weren’t keeping an eye on him? Hm, what’s wrong, puppy?”

Suddenly, the dog jumps up, wagging his tail happily as he sniffs the air. Momoi beams, thinking she’s finally won Nigou over, only for the husky to run past her and towards the pool entrance. Everyone turns to look as the doors bang open, from which [Name] runs inside. Hastily kicking off her sandals, she throws her practice bag to the side, a loud thud resounding in the echoey room when it hits the wall to her right. With a blissful yelp, she jumps straight into the deep end of the pool, disappearing below the surface for a minute before coming back up for air.

She laughs as she flattens her wet hair back onto her neck, which it clings to as she rubs her eyes. A loud giggle escapes her throat as Nigou jumps in with her, yapping happily as he doggy paddles over to her. She scoops him up close to her chest and swims over to the side of the pool. She sets him down before pulling herself out, water dripping down her body as she pulls her legs up and climbs out.

All the boys’ eyes widen as she stands, shaking her hair out a bit with a genuine smile. None of them have ever seen this much exposed skin from her ever before. She wears a [F/C] bikini, which compliments her [S/C] complexion well. Now that she stands in the same room as Momoi, they can clearly see that she really is no more than an A-cup, maybe just barely a B, for sure. However, her ass is much more sculpted and her long legs more toned and lean. Not only that, but even though her waist isn’t as stick thin, she has the muscle to show for it. Whenever she takes a breath in, her washboard abs tighten a bit, fading again to her smooth stomach when she exhales.

She smiles when her eyes flutter back open, lashes dark from being wet, and she stretches her arms over her head as she hums in delight. “Sorry I’m late. I came over here as fast as I could; pool exercises are always my favorite! Low impact training is the best; the water feels so gentle and nice…”

“[Nickname]-chan, I didn’t want Nigou to get in the pool,” Kuroko steps up to her; and unlike the other boys, he bares no reaction to show for her body as he kneels down and picks up the dog at her feet. “He’s going to smell like chlorine, now.”

She giggles at his scolding. “Ah, sorry, Tetsu-chan, but I didn’t mean to! He jumped in before I could do anything about it!’

“I suppose you’re right,” he sighs, smiling softly as he holds the dog up to her face, in which the puppy begins to lick it happily. Kuroko’s smile widens ever so slightly when he hears her giggle. “Nigou’s always so excited to see you.”

Momoi’s brow furrows, a bit aggravated by the confrontation occurring right in front of her magenta eyes. Kuroko never ever once referred to her by ‘chan’, much less her first name. And here he was, calling this girl he’s barely known for a couple months ‘[Nickname]-chan’, a shortened version of her first name. Not only that, but he lets her call him ‘chan’ as well!? Momoi tried to do that once and he scolded her, telling her that if she were to keep calling him ‘Tetsu’, it would have to be paired with ‘kun’ and nothing else. “Tetsu-kun! How come you never call me cute nicknames like that!?”

He doesn’t answer her as [Name] turns to greet her with the sweetest and purest of smiles she’s ever seen, her eyes widening at the sight of her. “Hey, I know you! Momoi Satsuki, yes? It’s a pleasure to meet Tetsu-chan’s former manager! My name’s [Last Name] [Name]; I’m honored to finally meet such a capable analyst like yourself!”

The pinkette blinks at [Name]’s hand outstretched to her, breath hitching in shock. No matter how much she wishes she could be mad at the American girl standing before her, she can’t bring herself to. Her voice is much too melodic and her words too flattering; those soft and fading freckles that litter her cheeks and the tip of her nose like stars add to her youthful appeal. No matter how much Kuroko prefers this new manager over her, Momoi can’t help but admire [Name] in all of her ethereal beauty.

“L-Likewise,” Momoi quickly regains herself, grabbing [Name]’s hand and instead of shaking it, she pulls her in for a hug. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you, [Last Name]-san! I’ve heard so many great things about you. Ah, sorry, I’m more of a hugger…”

“No worries, I am too!” Chuckling, [Name] hugs her back tightly, and the two begin jumping up and down while embraced. At the sight of the halfway indecent girls jumping up and down together, visual body parts bouncing with each movement, the boys begin sinking lower and lower into the water to conceal themselves. Even Kuroko’s eyes sink to the lower half of [Name]’s bikini, lingering on her backside for a moment before perking back up when she faces him. “Ah, forgive me, but I can’t stick around for long. Taiga and I have some physical rehab to get to! Sorry to keep you waiting, Taiga.”

His brow twitches as he fights back a blush when she walks over to him, his eye level while sitting on the bench being at the same height as her bikini top while she stands before him, hands on her sculpted hips. “I-It’s no problem. Are we going to be in the pool, too?”

“Nah,” she smiles, a lock of wet [H/C] hair slipping over her shoulder. “We’ll head outside. It feels nice out, yeah?”

“Then why the hell are you wearing a swimsuit?” he grumbles, standing to gather his things before whispering under his breath so no one could hear, “Are you trying to show off?”

[Name] shrugs. “Eh, I couldn’t help it. What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good swim. The water felt so nice. Besides, seeing as we’re gonna be outside all day and the UV index is decent, I thought I’d catch a quick tan while you get to work. And if you think I’m going to go out there in clothes and get wack tan lines then you’re dead wrong.”

Momoi nods. “I can respect that.”

“Thank you!” [Name]’s smile returns in response to the pinkette’s sweet voice. “I really am sorry that our meeting is going to be cut short, Ms. Momoi, but I truly am late already as it is. I would like nothing more than to talk to you-... Say, Tetsu-chan, give her my number for me, yeah?”

“Sure,” the bluette agrees with one word.

“Ah, take care, then, [Nickname]-chan…” Momoi stops herself. “Sorry, that’s what Tetsu-kun calls you, isn’t it…?”

“You may call me whatever you want, Ms. Momoi,” the Seirin manager assures with a smile.

“You don’t mind if I call you [Nickname]-chan then?” the pinkette beams when [Name] agrees. “Hooray~ You will call me a nickname, too, then?”

[Name] thinks about it for a minute as she reaches down and picks up her bag from the floor. “Hm, let’s see, then…. Is Satsu-chan a good fit for you? Or would you prefer that I call you something else? I know it’s kinda strange, but...”

Momoi swoons; no one has ever called her anything like that before. “N-No! That’s perfect! You may call me Satsu, then!”

“Sounds lovely,” Taiga rolls his eyes sarcastically, still somewhat salty by the fact that [Name] refuses to give him a nickname while she’ll give someone she just met one on the spot. And although he asked her to refer to him as she would an American - by his first name and without an honorific - he must admit he’s somewhat jealous that she goes around calling everyone nicknames as well as ‘chan’ but him. He has to be fair, though; he asked her to call him Taiga and that’s what she’s doing; it isn’t like he has a special nickname for her either. He refers to her in American terms: just [Name]. Therefore, he supposes he shouldn’t expect special treatment. Yet, he’s still pressed whenever he hears her call someone else by a unique nickname. “Shouldn’t we be getting started?”

“Right, right. My bad!” she apologizes genuinely with a small smile. Crouching down, she slips on her forgotten pair of sandals before throwing a loose and lacy white bohemian dress over her bikini, reaching down to her mid thigh. Already, the dampness of her bikini soaks into the coverup, creating a sheer look to the fabric around said areas. “Alright, then, Taiga. Let’s get to it. Goodbye, everyone!”

A half-hearted chorus of “see ya’”s and “bye”s echo from the boys, who are ordered back into the pool by a fuming Riko. Kuroko, however, remains to speak with Momoi outside of the pool, watching as [Name] and Kagami head outside. Said girl leads said boy to the outdoor basketball court, the pavement red and blue and caged in by linked fences. With a soft yawn, [Name] tosses her bag onto the bench to the right, stretching her arms over her head. Kagami follows suit, setting his bag down as well.

“Well, what’re we doing today, then?” Kagami groans, dreading whatever the monster of a girl had in store for him.

She giggles, sensing his concern. “Don’t worry your pretty little head, Taiga. Seeing as Riko isn’t around to watch us, I’m allowing you to put some work in today. As long as it stays between you and me, you hear?”

Kagami’s eyes widen in disbelief. “Wait, seriously? I thought I still have a week left to recover before I can handle the ball again.”

“Technically, you do. That’s why I’m not going to let you do anything high impact,” she states, her eyes glowing gold as she smirks at his knees. “Though, I can tell you’ve been naughty and playing at a higher intensity outside of our little one-on-one sessions.” 

He squirms under her calculating gaze. “S-Shut up. It’s hard to just sit around when I know my competition’s only going to keep getting harder and harder.”

“I get that, but I’d advise you to quit doing that from now on. Riko’s bound to notice you’re regressing sooner or later, and that’s going to reflect badly on me. Besides, I truly want to make sure you’re fully recuperated for your next game; if you’re not, you won’t stand a chance against that tough competition in the first place,” she adds slyly, eyes [E/C] again with a blink. She turns around and crouches, scooping a ball out of her bag and tossing it to Kagami. “Nothing too high paced. Just get some quick shots and dribbles in; no jump shots or dunks, please. Layups and free throws.”

“Fine, fine,” he sighs, catching the ball with one hand.

“I’ll be over here getting a tan in,” she calls over her shoulder, lifting the cover up off her frame, Kagami blushing as she once again reveals her athletic figure. “Call for me if anything feels out of the ordinary so that I can get you to move onto something else, m’kay?”

He quickly shifts his gaze to the ball in his hands, using anything as an excuse to take his eyes off her. Red in the face, he takes a deep breath and cools off a bit. “Right.”

With that being said, [Name] flicks a pair of sunglasses on her nose and lays out a towel on the hot pavement with a smile. She puts her AirPods in and lays down on her back, humming with delight as she basks in the heat of the sun.

Doing as he’s told, Kagami works on crossing and layups for the better part of half-an-hour, moving at a slow pace, for the most part. After a while, he glances over at [Name], still lying on the ground, having flipped over to her stomach around ten minutes ago. He keeps his eyes from straying towards her impressive backside, focusing instead on her breathing. It’s steady, and he can’t help but feel as if she’s fallen asleep. Smirking, he decides to do a bit of his own rehab. There’s no way he’s going to be good enough to beat the generation of miracles if he isn’t out working hard, after all. Besides, he can barely even feel any pain, anymore-...

A strangled grunt escapes his lips when his knee somewhat gives out as he goes for a jump shot. He doesn’t fall over, but he doesn’t exactly jump, either. Instead, he had sloppily chucked the ball towards the rim, missing by a couple inches and slamming it into the backboard. He takes the weight off of his throbbing left knee and shin as he watches the ball bounce away slowly, grimacing at the pain.

“Hey.” Before he can go and get it, an unrecognizable voice calls out to him from behind. He turns to face it. “You’re Kagami Taiga, right? Play me. I’ll test you, one-on-one.”

Kagami glares at him, forcing pressure back onto his leg and hiding the pain to assume a dominant stance. The guy’s about Kagami’s height, maybe an inch taller, with about the same frame too. His skin is a healthy tan complexion, his messy hair a shade of dark blue and his mischievous eyes the same color, nearly looking dark gray in the sunlight. He smirks at Kagami’s resting bitch face. He wears a white t-shirt and a pair of gray joggers, picking up the ball that Kagami abandoned.

Said redhead arches a brow at the cocky bluette. “Huh? Who the hell are you?”

He rolls his eyes, smirk remaining. “Idiot. If I tell you to play, you play. But I’ll tell you my name, at least. It’s Aomine Daiki.”

Kagami’s eyes widen in recognition of the name. Midorima had mentioned him back at that restaurant after their match; the ace of the Generation of Miracles. “Yes, I’ve heard of you, but you can’t expect me to just do whatever you ask me to.”

“I said I’m not asking you. Just shut up and play,” Aomine grins. “No one’s expecting a real match, anyway. I just want to know how much you can do in order to relieve my boredom. To be quite honest, you seem much too dim to be Tetsu’s new light.”

“From Kise to Midorima, the Generation of Miracles is full of guys who piss me off,” Kagami sighs, rubbing the nape of his neck, brows furrowing as he grins maniacally. “But they say that you’re exceptional, even among them, so I’ll crush you-...!”

All of the air is expelled from Kagami’s lungs after [Name] plunges her elbow deep into his ribcage, successfully shutting him up. Aomine glances at her, not recognizing her in the slightest. However, he’s not going to complain about her appearance and choice of clothing; he’s not shy about it either, eyes lingering on her bikini. “I don’t think so, Taiga. You are in no shape for such a high intensity one-on-one, dumbass. You really thought you could get away with that while I was lying right there?”

He whimpers in pain as he struggles to find his breath. “I thought you fell asleep while tanning!”

She takes her sunglasses off, sighing. “No, stupid. Don’t think I missed that pathetic jump shot, either. You need to take a break and get off that knee. Go ice it. I brought the cooler, it’s in my bag.”

“No way! I’m gonna play him!” he growls.

[Name] grabs a fistfull of his shirt, yanking him down to her eye level. He squirms under her intense glare, their noses nearly brushing. “Does it look like I’m giving you a fucking choice, Taiga?”

He eventually gives up, scowling at her. “Fine! I don’t even care!”

She watches as he storms over to her bag, grumbling under his breath as he kneels down and scours through it for the ice. As he does so, she turns to face Aomine, her demeanor switching in the blink of an eye as she adopts a smile as bright as the sun boring down on them from the sky. “Sorry about that. It’s nice to finally meet you, Aomine Daiki.”

“How the hell do you know my name?” He arches a brow before smirking flirtatiously at her, dribbling the ball boredly. “You been stalking me, little lady? Can’t say I blame you.”

“I guess you could say that,” she chuckles, rolling her eyes. “Not in the way you’re thinking, though. I know all about your style of basketball, Mr. Aomine, and I’d love to see it first hand.”

He abruptly stops dribbling the ball, sending her a look of perplexion. “You’re challenging me to a one-on-one? Who the hell do you think you are, shorty?”

Her eyes widen. “Ah, I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. Forgive me. My name’s [Last Name][Name]; I’m Seirin’s new manager.”

Aomine blinks at her, recalling a certain phone call he exchanged with a forlorn Midorima after his match against Seirin; he had warned him about Seirin’s new manager. Why didn’t he tell him she was this hot when he asked him in the first place? Perhaps he should take this opportunity to fully understand what that warning had been about. “I see. And you play ball?”

She laughs. “Well, I used to.”

Aomine hums, not reading her as a challenging opponent, but he shrugs, just wanting to play someone --anyone-- at this point. Who cares if it’s some stupid broad or not? “Alright, then. You really gonna play me dressed like that? It’s a bit unfair, don’t you think? You trying to distract me, babe?”

[Name] doesn’t even squirm under Aomine’s flirtatious tone, finding him amusing. “Don’t worry, I can change. And I always carry a pair of sneakers with me. Give me just a moment.”

Meanwhile, Kagami’s glaring at Aomine from the bench, where he’s propped up his leg and currently bandaging a bag of ice around it. He can’t stand it when he hears people talking to [Name] like that; it just makes him want to punch whoever it is in the face for being so disrespectful, and he can’t figure out why. 

His eyes are promptly pulled away when he feels [Name]’s soft fingertips trailing over his leg, finishing the wrap for him quickly while shooting him a quick smile. He turns his eyes away when she bends over to reach in her bag, searching for a set of clothes. Aomine does quite the opposite, however, staring at her backside and whistling softly as he spins the basketball on the tip of his ring finger. Kagami can only growl at him angrily from afar.

Eventually, [Name]’s pulled on a white tank top tied just below her swimsuit top and a pair of black athletic shorts over her bottoms, lacing up a pair of bright orange streetball shoes. She pulls her hair back as she strides back over towards Aomine, golden eyes analyzing him as she does. He’s 6’4, 191 pounds, and his athletic abilities are through the roof. He’s not a player to be reckoned with, and he proudly flaunts that confidence, too. A streetball player if she’s ever seen one.

“How’re we doing this? First to five?” she asks with a soft smile.

He scoffs. “You think you can keep up with me for that long?”

She arches her brow. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Aomine laughs, raking a hand through his hair. “You really are naive, aren’t you? I don’t understand why Midorima was so worked up about you. Whatever. Don’t be complaining when I have you down on your knees, begging for it to end when I beat you.”

[Name]’s reaction is nonexistent as she awaits for him to check her the ball, for she’d be starting on the outside. Kagami watches on the sidelines, and although he’s disappointed to be sitting out, he can’t help but feel excitement bubbling up in his chest as he anxiously awaits what’s about to be an incredible match before him. Aomine checks her the ball, to which she bounces back, and he lightly tosses it to her. [Name] casually dribbles it, her stance tall and straight as she awaits the bluette to assume his own defensive stance. 

He does just as she predicted him to after watching a couple of his tapes awhile back. When on defense, he’ll widen his legs to be a bit more than shoulder length apart, bending his knees but not getting too low to the ground. He stands a couple feet away from her, his arm outstretched a bit in order to swipe for the ball once he thinks the opportunity is right. He smirks, and [Name] wittily returns the favor. 

Aomine’s quick to pick up on her change in speed and demeanor, seeing as she picks up the pace of her dribbling. She casually but skillfully sends it in and out between her legs as she thinks about what she’s going to do, still a good distance away from Aomine. Tired of waiting, he takes a small step towards her, waiting to see how she’ll react. Her eyes flicker to the left, bidding his to do the same. She then crosses the ball to her left, heel tapping a jab in the same direction. Aomine takes the bait and leans to his right, expecting her to drive in that direction. However, she quickly crosses over behind her back to the right and steps around his left as he leans the opposite way.

However, Aomine’s not that slow, and he rolls his eyes at her for thinking she could’ve possibly bested him with such a basic trick. He’s quick to lunge at her in that direction, looming over her at nearly a foot taller. Ball in her right hand, he notes that she bends her knees and is about to take a quick jumpshot. It would’ve worked on anyone else, but not him. He stretches his left arm out over her head to block the shot, one of his feet lifting off the pavement in order to achieve the height he was going for.

His eyes widen when he sees her smirk.

Having faked the shot, her hand curls around the ball as she passes it over to her left hand, turning her entire body away from him, confusing him even further. As he begins to regain his balance again, he figures she’s moving to spin around his back, so he shifts his weight to his already planted right foot in order to follow her movements. However, she crosses the ball behind her back, right in front of him, showing him her confidence as she does it within arms reach. He extends his arm to snag the ball, but her movements are too quick. 

The ball bounces on the pavement behind her back and reaches her right hand, to which she pulls back in front of her and then spins past him, leading with her left shoulder towards the hoop. Seeing as he completely fell for her second fake, Aomine had been leaning the opposite direction, leaving no way for him to stop her from forcing her way past him and into the paint. 

Even then, he growls under his breath and beelines after her as quickly as he possibly can, but she’s already making the reverse layup with her left hand once he catches up to her, scoring her first point of five. He catches the ball under the rim with one hand, completely starstruck by the fact he got scored on, by a small girl, not to mention. She only smiles sweetly at him as he gawks at her.

Aomine can’t help but feel as if he’s seen that exact move online before.

“How the hell did you do that?” he whispers softly.

“You think you’re the only one who grew up playing basketball on the streets?,” she chuckles shyly, scratching the back of her head. “That’s one of my signatures; used it all the time over in America.”

Aomine’s eyes widen. He knew he recognized this chic from somewhere;her face and physique should have been recognizable enough, but it’s the move that really jogged his memory. He’d seen this girl in basketball magazines before, thought she was hot, and decided to look her up. He then fell into a hole of her old films, watching her play for her high school team and interviews and such. She isn’t kidding; that is one of her signature moves. He can clearly remember her using it successfully a number of times. 

And he isn’t the only one who’s baffled. Kagami sits where he has been this whole time, on the bench, jaw slack. Of course he knows that [Name]’s an insanely good basketball player, but he’s heard the same from Aomine. He figured that the ace would prove to be a bit more of a challenge to her, but she beat him just about as easily as she had beaten Kagami the first day they met. He closes his mouth and glares at the two before calming down a bit. Perhaps this is a good thing; it may mean that he and Aomine are evenly matched compared to [Name].

Said girl chuckles at Aomine’s sudden glare as he checks her the ball. “Don’t get your hopes up, shortstack. You just got lucky.”

“Yes, of course,” she nods, bouncing it back blindly before facing him once more to receive the check again on the outside. “Now that you’re warmed up, I assume you won’t go easy on me, yeah?”

“Shut up and play,” he gets low to the ground, more confident than before but less cocky.

Grinning, [Name] jumps into action. Nothing high paced, just yet, but holding the ball with both hands close to her body as she crouches a bit, assessing her opponent and his body language. Aomine watches as her eyes flash gold for seconds at a time before returning to their normal [E/C] hue. He narrows his eyes at her, doing the same, focusing on any plans she might give away through her physical movements. Then, she suddenly springs into play.

With a pump fake and a heel tap to the right followed by a low sweep in the same direction, Aomine quickly moves in front of her, stepping to his left to do so. The fake was clean, and he somewhat fell for it, but not completely this time when she quickly pulls back to her original pivot foot. He jumps back towards her, cautiously reaching out towards the ball in case she tries to go the other direction. Much to his surprise, she had just stood there, waiting for him to recover with a knowing smirk.

As soon as he had stepped back, Aomine’s legs were a solid meter’s length apart, his arms outstretched and leaving that gap for [Name] to take tauntingly open. So she takes it, quickly taking the ball in her right hand and bouncing it between his legs, ducking around his right side on her left as he begins to turn to try and beat her to the ball before she can. However, [Name] is extremely nimble, jumping over his right leg and snagging the ball before it can even bounce a second time. As soon as she’s got her hands on it, she takes a step back and goes for the jumpshot.

Aomine’s agility and height advantage, however, come into play in the knick of time. He lunges towards her, thrusting himself into the air to block her shot. His left hand reaches outstretched above his head, putting himself in between her and the net. And she doesn’t have time to take a new approach, the ball having already left her hands. Aomine smacks it down with his palm, in which he curls his entire hand around it and swings it to his other side, palming it skillfully after stealing the shot.

Kagami can’t help but feel both extremely jealous but also extremely shocked when Aomine blocks [Name]’s shot. Perhaps he stands a chance against [Name] after all. His eyes narrow at the girl, anxious to see her reaction. After all, he’s never witnessed her lose anything in a one-on-one before, even if it was just a missed shot. His eyes widen, however, when he finds her to be smirking smalley at Aomine, eyes shimmering for a split second before melting back into their mystifying [E/C].

“Now I get why she wanted to play Aomine so badly…” he whispers to himself softly. “She’s analyzing his play. She wanted him to stop that shot so that she can defend him and see how he plays on offense…”

Indeed, [Name] smiles sweetly as she circles around to the inside, in which Aomine lazily checks her the ball as he moves to the outside. [Name] respectfully waits for him to turn and face her again before handing him the ball and marking him thoroughly. This should be interesting. Kagami’s never seen [Name] on defense before. She always blows her one-on-ones out of the water with a complete sweep on offense. He has to admit, she looks rather ridiculous guarding Aomine, with him being an entire foot taller than her, and all.

[Name] isn’t afraid of the size difference, nevertheless, as she stays very close to him and the ball he holds. He takes a few steps to his right, her left, before getting low and dribbling the ball back and forth between his hands. [Name] ignores the distraction, keeping her eyes on him. She takes a step closer, right arm outstretched as her fingertips push up against the shirt on his chest in order to keep him where he stands. Her eyes shimmer golden when she can feel his steady heartbeat picking up. She immediately switches to guard with her left hand as Aomine crosses to his left, reading his next move before he can even do it.

She had seen how his left hand arched around the ball when he had crossed it over, indicating he wasn’t about to dribble or shoot. Instead, he bounces the ball back to his right behind his back, in which [Name] had stretched her left arm out in hopes to jab it out of his grasp when he did. Aomine’s eyes widen at her accurate prediction, so he decides to do something that she won’t expect. 

After the ball is once again in his right hand, just waiting for [Name] to steal it, he cups his palm around it securely and swings it around his back, spinning to the left while leading with his right shoulder. [Name], having shifted her balance in order to completely go for the steal, reels back in shock as he dips around her right side and takes one more big step towards the hoop. All [Name] can do is follow after him as he makes the simple layup from the left, landing gracefully on the ground as the ball bounces at her feet.

Kagami nearly stands up in shock, but refrains from doing so, thanks to the ice on his leg. He can barely believe his eyes. Did [Name] really just lose to someone in a one-on-one?

Her reaction isn’t at all what Aomine expected it to be. She isn’t flabbergasted or fuming at him. Rather, she simply picks up the ball with that eerily sweet smile of hers, tossing it to him and indicating that they finish the rest of the one-on-one. Somewhat confused, he decided not to trash talk her until the match is over, keeping mostly silent, save for a few classic streetball taunts while playing her. Having started out cautious while playing her, he slowly gains his confidence back, throwing in a couple cocky streetball moves as well.

In the end, the match went by pretty quick, Aomine winning 5-1, seeing as [Name] wasn’t able to regain possession of the ball after having lost it. She put up a good fight on defense for her size, but ultimately still lost in the end. Kagami is at a loss for words; though he’d never admit it, [Name]’s easily the best basketball player he’s ever met. Until now, he had no doubt in his mind that she could crush the Generation of Miracles in one-on-ones all on her own. The bluette who stands now before him proved that incorrect in just twenty minutes. How the hell was he supposed to beat someone who bested [Name]? Kagami can’t imagine himself winning against her any time soon.

Aomine sighs, spinning the ball on his index finger as he arches a brow at [Name], smirking. “Well, that’s game. I win; any of us could’ve seen that coming.”

[Name] continues to smile kindly, bowing to him slightly. “Yes. It was a good game.”

He chuckles, catching the ball from his fingertip. “Hey, don’t blame yourself, babe. After all, the only one who can beat me is me.”

Kagami watches silently with bated breaths as [Name]’s smile grows into a subtle smirk at his words; her behavior right now is somewhat unsettling. Why the hell won’t she just react to a loss normally? Why is she still smiling at him like that? “So I’ve heard. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need to get Taiga back inside for the rest of his PT. It was lovely to meet you and play you, Mr. Aomine.”

He grins as she outstretches her small hand to him, which he fully envelops in his own and shakes it gingerly. “Heh, Mr. Aomine, huh? I think I’m going to like you, [Last Name]-san.”

Her smile only grows wider, despite the subconsciously lewd context of his statement, which enrages Kagami as he sits and watches him look her up and down as he does. “I hope we will indeed get along. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Kagami watches her approach him, the expression on her face relaxing now that Aomine can no longer see it. She nods at the redhead, indicating he remove the ice so that she can change it real quick. He watches her pull another two bags of ice and wrap out of her bag, going to work attaching them to his legs. 

He lowers his voice to speak to her. “What was that all about? How the hell could you lose…? I thought you were unbeatable.”

She scoffs, amused. “Get up and walk with me. I’ll tell you on the way.”

“Alright,” he nods, grunting softly as he stands, taking one last glance over his shoulder at Aomine. The ace isn’t facing him, practicing his jumpshots on the opposite side of the court, making them all flawlessly. Growling softly, he turns back around to see [Name] a few paces away, waiting for him. He hurries over to her side, escorting her back to the gym.

She swings her bag in front of her cutely as she walks. “To answer your question, no, I’m not unbeatable. Not in the slightest. However, I can’t really deny the fact that I wasn’t trying to beat Aomine.”

Kagami arches a brow. “What do you mean?”

[Name] shrugs, smiling even though she doesn’t look up at him. “My job as your manager is to gain as much information on your opponents in order to produce the most effective plays to help you beat them in the future; not to show off my skills.”

“You lost in order to learn everything about his movements…” Kagami comes to the realization with wide eyes.

“See, I knew you were smarter than you let on!” she giggles, jumping up on her tippy toes to ruffle his hair.

“But why? You seriously threw away your pride to figure out how he plays? [Name], you could’ve beat him! Don’t you think destroying his confidence might’ve given us a better chance?”

She shakes her head. “Quite the opposite, actually. I’ve already done some digging into Aomine Daiki, and he suffers from the Curse of the Extraordinary.”

“The Curse of the Extraordinary?” Kagami questions, urging her to explain.

“He is as he says; at least, to an extent. Did you hear what he said to me back after the one-on-one?”

“The only one who can beat me is me,” Kagami quotes after thinking for a moment.

“Indeed; all he has ever known is victory. Never once has Aomine Daiki experienced loss,” she says with a sad smile. “Though, he desperately wants to. He’ll never admit it aloud, but all he wants is to find someone stronger than him on the court. Someone who can actually prove to be worthy of a challenge. Therefore, he never practices, for he fears that he will constantly improve until he’s eventually the best of the best, no one left to challenge him. The Curse of the Extraordinary.”

Kagami nods. “I see. If you had shown him that you were capable of beating him, he would’ve started practicing again, improving his skills.”

“Well…” [Name] chuckles, rubbing the back of her neck. “To be quite honest with you, Aomine and I would end up being pretty evenly matched in a one-on-one where we both decide to go all out. I’m rather weak when it comes to defense.”

The redhead slowly turns to look down at her, confused as to why she could be so happy about that, nonchalantly prancing alongside his wide strides. That’s when he realizes, coming to a complete stop behind her. She takes a couple more steps before realizing he had stopped, turning to look at him with a perplexed expression, silently asking him why he’d ceased walking. Kagami continues to stare at her in utter silence for a moment, before shaking his head and following after her towards the gym.

[Name]’s voice fades into white noise, but Kagami’s eyes remain on her walking beside him the whole time. It seems so obvious, now that she’s explained it.

To an extent, [Name] herself has been cursed by the Extraordinary, and playing Aomine helped her realize that there’s someone out there talented enough for her to learn from by playing him one-on-one.


	10. Karasuno

As the Karasuno volleyball team are currently preparing for practice in their school gymnasium, the metal doors slide open and in comes their advisor, Ittetsu Takeda. Upon Takeda’s arrival, the third year captain of the team, Sawumara Daichi, calls for everyone to gather around and pay attention. “Afternoon, everyone.”

“Yo,” a second person dips in beside Takeda, casually stuffing his hands in his pockets and his slightly lengthy blond hair being held back by a thin wire over his scalp.

Takeda smiles brightly, hazel eyes twinkling behind his glasses. “Allow me to introduce you to Ukai-kun, your coach as of today.”

The team of boys all gasp in unison, confused tension swarming the air within the room. They’ve never really had a coach before, after all, and that surname held a lot of weight. Daichi is the first person to step forwards and say something. “C-Coach? Do you mean it?”

“Only for the duration of your game with Nekoma,” Ukai explains, gazing down on him.

“Wait a minute,” Tanaka blurts out, pointing at their new coach. “He’s the guy who runs the hill-bottom convenience store, isn’t he? Is he really gonna be our coach?”

Takeda answers this question lightly, his voice feathery. “He is a Karasuno graduate and the grandson of the famous Coach Ukai.”

“WHAT!?”

Hinata breaks free from his team’s chorus of exclamations, booking it over to Ukai. “But isn’t your store called the Sakanoshita Store!? Not Ukai!? S-Sir!?”

Ukai blinks. “The store comes from my mom’s side of the family. Now, there’s no time to waste. We should be getting started! I want to see you guys play, so I’ve organized a match to be played here at 6:30. I’ve already called in your opponents.”

“Huh? Opponents?” Daichi repeats, perplexed.

“The Karasuno Neighborhood Association Team,” Ukai smirks proudly. “Oh! And seeing as this is your Golden Week Training Camp, I’ve also brought it upon myself to call in a personal trainer for the week. She should be getting here any second-...”

Timing appears to be magical on this day, for just as he says this, quick and light footsteps can be heard from outside the gym. Up the few concrete steps they tap and soon thereafter, the gym doors slide back open, revealing a trainer that not a single one of the Karasuno boys could’ve ever imagined with the time that they had.

There, standing in the entryway, shoulders slightly heaving as she catches her breath, is a teenage girl wearing a Seirin High School Uniform, clutching a black athletic bag over her left shoulder. No ordinary teenage girl, however, but a girl, nonetheless. That’s enough to rile Nishinoya and Tanaka up, but the rest of her even gets the rest of the team a bit excited.

Her uniform jacket may be labeled Seirin High School on it, but the school as well as the uniform itself is foreign to the boys. They’ve never heard of it before, much less seen it. She must not be from around the Miyagi Prefecture. In any case, the uniform consists of a light yellow sweater over a white button up, paired with a very short white skirt, leaving little to the imagination when it came to her legs.

Which are neverending, the boys conclude as they stare. She has clear and healthy skin, the tone making it hard to believe she’s even Japanese; most of them are beginning to question if she could be. Though rather short in stature, her legs are long and lean in proportion, defined muscles clearly indicating that she works out. Her brown school shoes are neat and barely scuffed, which is hard to believe after she must’ve just run to the gym.

Her hair is so incredibly luscious looking that half of them give into an urge to reach out and stroke it against their will. Its [H/L] length frames her face shape beautifully; and it appears she knows the perfect way to style it in order to suit her appearance. The [H/C] shade of it coincides with her beauty so well, bringing even more attention inwards towards her mesmerizing face.

She blinks, thick lashes clouding her enthralling [E/C] eyes momentarily before revealing them again, the color itself electrifying in the early evening sunlight. She carefully wipes a bit of sweat from her perfect brow, squinting one eye closed as she does so. She then beams brightly, adding a whole new atmosphere to the room; one that’s warm and kind, the flash of her pearly whites behind her captivating lips reaching every single heart of the boys in the gym. As she turns her head, a few of them catch the light array of freckles littering her sculpted cheekbones and the tip of her nose.

“Sorry I’m late. I came here as quick as I could,” she pants softly, her voice melodic even as she struggles to catch the last bit of air her lungs require. This first statement seemed to have been directed towards Takeda and coach Ukai, but now, her gaze shifts over to the volleyball team before her, unaware of their flushing faces and ogling stares as she grins at them, sending them one of the most adorable close-eyed smiles. “Hello!”

Grinning, Coach Ukai approaches her, placing a hand on her shoulder before introducing her to the team. “This is [Last Name][Name], and she’ll be training you lot for the next week.”

“EH!?”

[Name] smiles, not all that surprised by the shock of the high school boys before her; she’s used to this kind of reaction, after all. She glances at the first boy to jump forward and speak his mind; a small first year with fiery orange hair and warm brown eyes, captivating to say the least. His face is flushed and he struggles to look [Name] in the eye as he points at her. “She’s gonna be training us for the whole week!?”

“M-My apologies, a-and I mean no offense by this, b-but-... How is a girl like her going to coach a bunch of guys like us?” the captain asks, glancing at [Name] nervously as he asks his question.

“Oi,” Ukai’s grip on her shoulder tightens a bit protectively. “You oughta show respect for [Last Name]-san, here. Her mother was one of the best volleyball players in America and has an impressive number of wins in past Olympic Games. You all should be honored that the daughter of [Last Name] Seraphina came out of her way to train you.”

A couple of boys gasp, recognizing the name, while the remainder of them are just as clueless. Regardless, [Name] rubs the back of her neck shyly from all the attention she’s receiving. “Ah, please… I’m not my mother. Really, I’m rather average when it comes to volleyball. That’s why I’m not as recognized for it…”

“Now I know where I’ve seen you before!” a short boy with brunet hair --sans a tuft in the front of it, which is blond in color-- gasps, pointing at her with twinkling gold eyes. “You’re a famous basketball player! I saw you in Basketball Monthly a while back!”

“Why on Earth would someone your height be looking through basketball magazines?” another questions in a mocking manner, adjusting his spectacles smugly; he’s tall, blond, and rather indifferent, it seems.

He seems to have done his job correctly, however, Nishinoya glaring at him with a murderous glint in his eye. “Oi! I happen to think that girls who play basketball are hot, so shove off, Tsukishima!”

“You’re famous for basketball, [Last Name]-san?” A third year with silver hair and a beauty mark beneath his left eye asks softly. “Excuse me for asking, but, why are you even here? In Japan, I mean.”

[Name] bites her lip, sparing no mercy to the blushing boys as she coyly rubs her arm. “Ah, it’s a long story, really. I just wanted to get out of the spotlight that I’m constantly under over in America, if I’m honest. So I’ve flown out to Japan under the radar and lay low; over here, I’m just an ordinary first year who manages the boys basketball team at Seirin. Naturally, when Keishin-kun called me, I was inclined to take his offer, seeing as his grandfather and my mother were close family friends. Keishin-kun and his grandfather would visit my home in America on multiple occasions; he’s kinda like an uncle to me. A-Also, I kinda miss volleyball, if I’m being honest. Basketball has been my whole life, lately, and I’d like to branch out again.”

The Karasuno boys stare at her with wide eyes, taking in every word she utters. The gym is completely silent for almost a full minute. That is until Nishinoya and Tanaka both turn to each other and begin excitedly whispering into one another’s ears, stealing glances of [Name] every now and then while smirking dubiously. [Name] arches a brow in perplexion, confused as to what they could possibly be conversing about in such a hushed manner; the rest of the Karasuno team deadpans, however, very well knowing what the second year pair is most likely up to. Kiyoko silently prays for this new girl, albeit selfishly hoping she may be able to get the two perverted boys off of her back for an entire week thanks to [Name]’s arrival.

Said girl gets over herself and grins, clapping excitedly. “All right, then! Now that you all know who I am, I’m determined to get to know all of you! If you don’t mind, that is…”

“Right!” Daichi agrees, turning to his team. “Line up by grade level and tell her your names and position!”

They all scramble to do as their captain tells them, lining up from oldest to youngest. [Name] giggles softly to herself, reminiscing her first practice with Seirin, and how her team had lined up to introduce themselves to her back then. It seems so long ago, despite barely being a few months. Her cute display of amusement doesn’t go unnoticed by the team of boys, either, unbeknownst to her.

She approaches her first culprit; the captain. He bows to her in order to set a respectful example, bidding the rest of his team do the same when introducing themselves to her. “My name is Sawamura Daichi. I’m a third year and play wing spiker; I’m the captain of this team.”

[Name] smiles sweetly, offering him her hand to shake; he does so, gingerly but still firmly. “I sort of gathered you were captain the moment I laid eyes on you; you have that leadership presence about you. Good grip, too.”

Everyone seems to notice as her eyes suddenly flash gold, turning Daichi’s palm over in order to inspect his forearms. They gasp softly, barely believing their eyes; Daichi, too, unable to explain why her eyes just changed colors before him, but he decides not to question it. “T-Thank you. I really appreciate that.”

[Name] blinks as she scrutinizes his arms, eyes changing back to [E/C] as she gazes up at him. “By the bruises on your arms and the sturdiness of your shoulders, I’m led to assume you specify mostly in receives. Is that correct?”

The captain’s eyes widen as he blinks a number of times, [Name] finally dropping the hold on his hand as she patiently awaits his answer. “Y-Yes. How could you-...?”

She hums cutely, closing her eyes as she smiles. “I’m just good at picking up on the little things. In any case, I look forward to working with you, Mr. Sawamura.”

With that being said, she moves onto the next boy; the silver-haired one with the cute mark below his left eye. He also bows, his smile sweet. “It’s nice to meet you, [Last Name]-san. I’m Sugawara Koshi, and I’m the vice-captain.”

[Name] also shakes his hand, eyes once again shimmering gold for a split second as she scrutinizes his fingers. “You must be a setter.”

And once again, the team is astonished by her accurate assumption. “Y-Yes…”

She giggles. “Your palms are soft but your fingertips are calloused.”

“Oh, I see,” Suga’s smile is gentle, hazel eyes gazing down at his fingertips. “That was rather impressive, [Last Name]-san.”

“It’s nothing, really. Telltale signs that I’ve been conditioned to notice,” she blushes slightly, quite clearly embarrassed by the compliment. “By the way, you all are free to call me [Name], if you want. I know it’s not accustomed to refer to peers by their first names here in Japan, but I’m a selfish American, so it’s more comfortable for me that way. Otherwise, I feel somewhat distant from you guys. B-But if you don’t want to, that’s fine, too… I’m just used to it because all of my basketball boys call me [Name], so…”

Suga blinks for a moment before smiling a bit wider. “If that’s what you want, then I don’t mind calling you [Name]-san.”

The girl blinks, surprised for a moment before beaming. “Thank you!”

The next boy she greets has an undeniable presence, having piercing storm gray eyes and a shaved head, forming a sharp widow’s peak in the middle. He stuffs his hands in his pockets, smirking rather than bowing. “Tanaka Ryunosuke. Second year wing spiker. I’m really good at it, too.”

“Is that so?” [Name] giggles, amused by his flirtatious nature, even more so when Suga lightly chops the boy over the head for it. She shakes his hand. “Then I look forward to seeing you in action, Mr. Tanaka. You have quite a lot of pent up energy, I see.”

His eyes widen, his face overtaken by a red hue at her touch. He quickly pulls his hand away in panic, but [Name] doesn’t seem to mind, moving onto the next player. Tanaka silently curses himself for stripping away what was such a good opportunity, swearing to himself that he’ll never wash the hand that this pretty girl just shook with her own soft skin.

“You’re a libero if I’ve ever seen one,” [Name] snickers as she looks down on the brunet with the blond streak, seeing as he’s just an inch or two shorter than her.

Nishinoya, who’d been restlessly waiting his turn to greet the girl before, now cocks a brow at her, adopting a more intimidating manner. “OI? You think I’m a libero because of my height, don’t you!? C’mon, say it to my face-...”

His sudden defensive nature makes [Name] laugh, a few of the melodious bellows escaping her parted lips before she shakes her head at him, taking one of his hands in her own. “No, of course not. It’s all the bruises you’ve got everywhere; arms, legs, shoulders. No mistaking they’re from diving all over the place. Instant giveaway of a libero. Also, your shoulders and elbows seem very flexible; I bet you can touch your elbows when you make your platform, eh? Color me impressed. Now, kind sir, mind telling me your name?”

Upon realizing that a pretty girl is holding his hand in her warm palms, smiling kindly at him, Nishinoya immediately begins to falter a bit, trying to fight a blush. “I-I’m Nishinoya Yu! Second year and libero!”

“Well, Mr. Nishinoya, I’m certain you and I are going to get along well,” [Name] states, dropping his hand but unknowingly intensifying his blush with her statement, sparing him no mercy as she also shoots him a quick wink. “My main position was libero, after all.”

As Nishinoya struggles to contain himself, celebrating what he considered a victory with Tanaka, [Name] quickly moves onto the rest of the second years, first approaching one with a tranquil smile and soft eyes. “Nice to meet you, [Last Name]-san. My name’s Ennoshita Chikara.”

[Name] shakes his rather large hand, also smiling. “Wow. You’re rather dependable for a second year, aren’t you?”

“W-What makes you say that?” Ennoshita’s eyes widen.

“You simply have the qualities of a leader in you,” [Name] smirks slyly. “I can tell by the look in your eyes. Your receives aren’t too shabby, either; you have wide palms.”

Without much more explanation, the girl moves onto the second player with a shaved head on the team; this one much less intimidating than the first. “Hi! My name’s Narita Kazuhito; I’m a middle blocker-...”

“Wow, your hands are soft!” [Name] exclaims in amazement before blushing a bit. “Ah, my bad. Forget I said that. In any case, I can tell you’re a rather cautious player, aren’t you? Level-headed, too. That makes you really useful for combo attacks, but don’t be afraid to take more risks, m’kay?”

“R-Right!”

The last person on the list of second years is a bashful looking boy with ash blond hair. He smiles at [Name] when she approaches him, extending his hand to her. “My name’s Kinoshita Hasahi. I-It’s nice to meet you, [Name]-san!”

[Name]’s eyes gleam gold when she shakes his hand, causing him to gulp. Noticing this, she smiles comfortingly, though she decides to tease him a bit. “No need to be nervous, Mr. Kinoshita. I promise, I don’t bite. On that note, my, my-... You have quite a flexible shoulder. Do you practice hitting technique a lot?”

Kinoshita’s eyes are wide. “N-No, not r-really…”

“Hmm…” [Name] taps her lip in concentration. “Perhaps I can look into that for you, then...”

Once she’s through all of the second years, [Name] moves onto the first years. She gazes up at the first one, who has an adorable collection of freckles on his face and a rather weak presence. “Yamaguchi Tadashi. First year and middle blocker…”

[Name] narrows her eyes at him, and he flinches under her scrutinizing stare, gold eyes looking him up and down. She hums. “How are your serves, Mr. Yamaguchi?”

He starts, bewildered by the random question. “M-My serves? N-Nothing special…”

She blinks, eyes a fascinating shade of [E/C] again. “I think you ought to give some flashy ones a try.”

Before he can even think to gain some insight on her proposal, she’s already moved onto the next player. A player who doesn’t seem interested in her at all. He rolls his eyes when the short ginger to his left elbows him in the side, urging him to introduce himself. “Tch. Tsukishima Kei. Middle blocker.”

“My, my, 188 cm…. You’re the tallest on the team. No wonder you're a middle blocker,” [Name]’s eyes trail from his shoes up his body before gazing up into his glare, both their gazes golden for the time being. “Your fingers are rather slender, though. I recommend keeping them taped while you play.”

As Tanaka bursts out laughing, Tsukishima glaring, [Name] moves on to the second to last player. The short fiery one from before. His shoulders are tense as he looks up at her, just barely a couple centimeters short of her. He’s a bit red in the face as he stiffly bows before her. “Hinata Shoyo! Middle blocker! N-Nice to meet you!”

“Middle blocker, eh?” [Name]’s eyes glow gold as Hinata straightens back up, her hard stare locked on his knee caps. She blinks a couple times, seemingly impressed by what she’s seeing. “Ah, I see. Mr. Hinata, I have an odd request for you.”

He tilts his head towards her, distracted from his bashful nature for the time being. “A request? What is it?”

[Name] takes a couple steps back before facing him with an earnest smile. “Think you can jump over my head?”

“W-WHAT!?” Hinata blurts out, a couple of stifled gasps coming from the rest of his team, as well. “I-I don’t want to hurt you, [L-Last Name]-san…”

“No need to worry. I’m certain I’m in no danger here,” she giggles. “And feel free to call me [Name], by the way.”

Hinata gulps, but gets into running position, regardless; despite Takeda’s efforts for the ginger to refrain for the time being. With one last huff of breath, Hinata charges towards [Name], pushing off the ball of his foot just a few meters away from her and tucking his knees in towards his chest. [Name] doesn’t even flinch as he barely scales her height, his knee brushing a tuft of hair on the top of her head in the process. He lands, not-so-gracefully, by skidding and hopping forward on one foot, arms flailing to maintain his balance.

[Name] gazes at him with an excited twinkle in her [E/C] eyes, face lit up in astonishment. “Brilliant! You have the same crazy jumping power that-... Excuse me, I got carried away, there. Nevermind that. I’m very impressed, Mr. Hinata. I’m very much looking forward to working with you a bit more.”

“T-Thank you, [La-... I mean, [N-Name]-san!” Hinata blushes feverishly, bowing down to at least a ninety-degree angle.

“Last but not least,” [Name] jokes, standing before the last first year present. “And you are?”

The tall ravenette boy bows slightly, his steel blue eyes cold and calculating. “My name is Kageyama Tobio. I’m a first year, but I want to see if you can guess what position I play, too.”

[Name] gazes at him knowingly, a smirk playing her lips as she shakes his hand, eyes glimmering gold for a millisecond when they stop shaking and she doesn’t let go; instead, she raises his hand up to her face. “You challenge me, eh? Well, with hands like these, you must be a setter. No calluses, like Mr. Sugawara, but your nails are perfectly filed and your joints are flexible. Beyond that, I can just tell by the look in your eye; the setter is the control tower of any volleyball team, after all. Though they may go unnoticed more than half the time, they must be the most calculating and precise, getting the ball in perfect position to the offense based off of their ability to see both sides of the court.”

At her words, Kageyama’s eyes widen, his heart skipping a beat as she still inspects his hand. It’s not like he didn’t know every word she said to be true; it’s simply for someone else to admit them that astonishes him. By someone who isn’t even a setter themself, no less. And before he can even react, the warm feeling enveloping his hand vanishes, and he watches [Name] turn to face Takeda, a hand on her hip.

“I couldn’t help but notice your team lacks a definite ace. Is that correct?”

Before Takeda can answer, Nishinoya scoffs. “Yeah, he’s not definite, that’s for sure.”

Suga immediately moves to calm Nishinoya down as Daichi steps forward apologetically. “Eh, we’re not exactly certain if our ace will be returning to practice or not. We’re giving him a bit of time to see where he stands, so if you could forgive us.”

“Oh, I see,” [Name] nods knowingly, shooting an apologetic smile. “In that case, I should probably get changed. I came straight from school after all. I’ll have to deal with Riko’s wrath when I get back next week, I suppose. Keishin-kun; you said over the phone that there’d be a practice match tonight?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, at 6:30,” he confirms.

“Stupendous! If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get changed into more appropriate attire,” she announces, moving to head out of the gym before stopping in her tracks, deadpanning to herself. “Eh… I have no idea where the girls' locker rooms are at this school…”

Somewhat amused, Kiyoko giggles, causing half the team to double over in shock, for the manager rarely cracks a smile. “Here, [Name]-chan. I’ll show you the way.”

As soon as the two girls head out of the gymnasium, closing the doors behind them and completely out of earshot, the boys break out into mass hysteria, shouting among one another about the mysterious girl that was just dropped on them out of nowhere. Takeda and Ukai deadpan at them but sigh in defeat; teenage boys will be teenage boys, after all, hormones and all. The only few that don’t seem to be making comments about her ethereal beauty are the two captains, the apathetic middle-blocker and the detached setter.

“How lucky are we, huh!?” Nishinoya exclaims, clutching the hand [Name] shook as if it was all he needed to live. “She’s so fucking hot! Did you see her skirt, Ryu!? Did you see how she smiled at me!?”

“Uh huh! Uh huh!” Tanaka nods vigorously, agreeing with every word. “So pretty! Her voice is like music to my ears! And did you see how she got Kiyoko-san to smile!? Two hot girls in our gym at the same time!”

Yamaguchi stares at the doors he just watched [Name] walk out of with Kiyoko, forgetting to breathe as he thinks about all that she said before. Is it true that he might have a chance to catch up with the rest of the team? Or was she just trying to make a good first impression? Mind racing, he pries his eyes away from the entrance to glance at Tsukishima, only to see that he's staring at the doors as well, a look of longing in his eyes. As soon as he catches Yamaguchi gazing at him, the blond rolls his eyes and turns to help set up the net.

Meanwhile, Hinata approaches Kageyama, a far-off gaze in his brown eyes, causing the ravenette to arch a brow at him. “Oi, shithead. What’re you thinking so hard about?”

To Kageyama’s surprise, Hinata doesn’t snap out of his dreamlike state despite his harsh tone. “...[N-Name]-san is really smart, don’t you think…?”

Kageyama’s eyes widen at Hinata’s question, turning his head and scoffing a bit to play off his interest. “Tch. I won’t worship her like you do until I see her in action. I need to see if she can actually live up to the hype before I respect her myself.”

At this, Hinata glares up at him. “I bet she’s even better than you are, Kageyama. Just you wait and see.”

Kageyama gazes down at him before turning and walking away in order to help set up for the practice match. “I never said I doubted her, dumbass.”

Up to ten minutes later, as the boys are beginning their warmups, [Name] and Kiyoko return to the gym, casually making small talk with one another, smiling happily. It’s as if the two have become best friends after one short trip to the locker rooms and back. Nishinoya and Tanaka melt before the girl talk occuring before them, barely believing their eyes. Much less can they control themselves as they ogle at [Name]’s wardrobe change.

A Seirin High School basketball t-shirt, a white Seirin jacket (which seems to be two-times a size too big) with red and black stripes on the cuffs, hem, and neckline, along with a pair of skintight black spandex, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination at this point. The view of her impressive backside is difficult to ignore. She’s also slipped on a pair of black knee pads and some sleek, white hyperspikes, the swoosh and soles black in color. She’s also swapped out the original white laces in the shoes for red ones.

The whole team stops working as they watch her bend over to quickly tie her hair up, revealing a clearer view of her multiple piercings in her ears as she grins, jogging over to them.

“Sorry that took so long. According to Keishin-kun, your opponents should be here in about half an hour,” she informs them jubilantly, adjusting her oversized jacket sleeves. “So I’ll help you guys warm up.”

“Right. Thank you,” Daichi nods, stretching one of his quads. “We’re about to begin serves. I know it isn’t much, but do you think you could retrieve balls?”

“Of course!” she beams, smile bright as she wheels over the ball cart and makes her way to the other side of the court in order to retrieve the serves that make it over the net. Kiyoko would be responsible for the other side.

After about half an hour passes, the Neighborhood Association Volleyball Team arrives, in which Ukai moves to greet them and thank them. The four from the team all seem to be in their prime shape in their mid-twenties, reminiscent as they step back into the old gym of their high school career. Ukai prepares the two teams for the practice match as Kiyoko hands out separate colored pennies; one team yellow, the other blue.

“Hey, you. What’s the matter?” Ukai addresses Nishinoya, who seems to be sitting out at the sideline and watching as everyone prepares.

Daichi immediately jumps into action, defending his junior. “I-I’m sorry, but he’s not ready to play.”

“What’s the deal?” Ukai groans, arms crossed. “Issues? Injuries?”

“N-No, nothing like that… It isn’t that straightforward.”

By now, [Name]’s rather interested in the conversation, eyeing the three intently. “No injuries? Well, I don’t know what the deal is, but you’re joining the NA (Neighborhood Association) team. Our libero is tied up at work and couldn’t make it. I would put [Name] in, but I’ve already seen what she’s capable of. I’m here to see what you lot can do.”

Without a word, Nishinoya nods at Daichi and begins making his way to the NA side of the court, grabbing a penny from Kiyoko as he goes. [Name] gazes at the libero, a hint of interest in her eyes. She debates approaching him when a loud voice derails not only her train of thought, but Nishinoya’s as well.

“Hey! It’s Asahi-san!” Hinata exclaims, and everyone turns to see him hanging from the bars of the window, legs pulled up to his chest in order to plant his feet on the wall. “Asahi-san!”

Tanaka runs over to the window to look out of it as well, Asahi cringing outside. Ukai yells for him to get inside, asking for his name and position before appointing the wing spiker to the NA team. A lot of tension fills the air as the tall third year steps inside, a pair of volleyball shoes clutched in his hand and a blue bag in the other. He’s very tall, muscularly built, and has a bit of scruff on his chin, brunet hair tied back into a tight man bun. [Name] understands what’s going on immediately, her eyes lingering on his strong shoulders. This is the uncertain ace Daichi had described to her before; it seems he might be making his decision by showing up tonight.

“Now all we need is a setter for the NA team. I would do it myself, but as the coach I guess I’ve gotta watch from the outside…” Ukai sighs, scratching his chin. “Loan me one of your setters.”

Kageyama and Suga happen to be standing next to one another, having been putting up some tosses for the spikers during warmups. They both widen their eyes a bit at the request, neither of them able to respond right away. After barely a moment’s hesitation, Suga steps forward, causing Kageyama’s breath to hitch slightly. “Sugawara-san! You’re not deferring to me, are you? If rising in the ranks comes at your expense, I’m out.”

[Name]’s heart skips a beat at these words, and her respect for both Suga and Kageyama swells. This is exactly what she looks for in a team; friendly competition is crucial, after all. She pulls out a fresh binder from her bag as she leans against the wall she sits beside, immediately hashing out notes for each player as she continues to hone in on every word between the two setters.

Suga doesn’t turn to face his junior setter as he speaks to him. “Since you joined the club, Kageyama-kun, the entire time I was preparing to fight you for the official title of setter, I think I felt relieved, somehow. The setter is a team’s attack axis. The setter must be steadfast. But I was too freaked out to toss properly. I was so afraid of exposing the spiker to repeated blocks because of my tosses again that I hid in the shadow of Kageyama’s overwhelming talent. And….A-And I was comfortable there. The very thought of a spike being blocked still scares me but please let me throw you a toss one more time, Asahi! That’s why I’m joining the NA side. Let me toss to you once more, ace… And, Kageyama? I’m not gonna lose.”

Kageyama looks Suga dead in the eye as he, too, nods. “Me neither.”

“Nishinoya,” Suga grins at the libero. “Give me those nice receives!”

The short brunet nods, the lack of emotion on his face unusual as he steals a glance at Asahi. “Naturally.”

And the match begins. The starters for Karasuno are Kageyama, Hinata, Tanaka, Daichi, Tsukishima and Ennoshita. On the NA side, the four association members plus Asahi, Suga, and Nishinoya as their libero. Daichi chuckles, hands on his hips as he watches Asahi stretching his arms out on the opposite side of the net. “He really is intimidating.”

As the match begins, [Name] scrambles to take notes and analytics of each player in her binder, her eyes flashing back between gold and [E/C] intermittently as she constantly bites her lower lip. The boys somewhat forget her presence as the game goes on, and she pays as much attention to their play as she does their conversation.

Just then, the next play really seems to stand out, overwhelming her a bit. Hinata and Kageyama’s quick is more than just impressive. The toss is pinpoint and precise, the spike faster than a blink of the eye. She isn’t the only one amazed, however; Ukai’s baffled by it, too, much to Takeda’s satisfaction. [Name] can’t help but feel a sense of familiarity among the two; a reliable first year duo who display overwhelming talent? Kuroko and Kagami have shown her the possibility of that already. She grins as she continues to scribble in her binder, so many new ideas flowing through her impressive mind.

A lot of development appears to be happening among the teammates in such a short amount of time. [Name] doesn’t know much about the history of these players, but there’s obviously a deep amount of friendship between the ace and the libero, and she thinks she’s beginning to understand. It’s quite obvious that Asahi took a break from volleyball due to a match where he got blocked repeatedly, in which he felt most responsible. Nishinoya, on the other hand, felt the opposite and trained really hard to improve at receiving blocked balls, which quite clearly paid off. After a flawless pancake, Suga seems to debate who he should send his next toss to.

“Send it to Azumane-san!” Kageyama yells from the opposite side of the net, eyes wide. “Give it to him until he scores!”

At this request, Tsukishima smirks in the block beside him. “You’re such a sadist, King.”

“Stop calling me King!”

[Name]’s breath hitches at the exchange, and her lips twitch upward as something in Asahi finally clicks, and he lets out a tear jerking roar, raising his hand in the air. “SUGA! ONE MORE!”

And so, Suga sends him the most adequate toss he can manage, just the way he knows Asahi prefers them. High and far away from the net. An audible gasp breaks through [Name]’s parted lips, just as Asahi breaks through the triple block before him. That spike holds so much power… she can’t help but grin when it breaks through. It’s quite clear now that Asahi’s position has been decided, returning to hold the title of ace.

As the game goes on, the most impressive things that [Name] observes are Nishinoya’s receives and Kageyama’s tosses. While everyone else on the team is just as formidable and hold their own talents, those two are simply on another level. Kageyama can perform a quick from anywhere, it seems, but only Hinata is fast enough and has the endurance to spike them. Those two really are starting to remind her of Kuroko and Kagami with each passing second, and she happily welcomes the fact that it makes her uneasy.

Ukai seems to be on the same boat as her. “Oi, Shortstack! Why did you jump without a signal?”

Hinata jumps at the nickname, but doesn’t retaliate out of fear and respect. “B-Because I know the ball will come to me no matter where I jump, sir.”

Both [Name] and Ukai’s eyes widen at that, for that means that Hinata wasn’t looking for the ball when he jumped for that toss. Therefore, Kageyama calculated with pinpoint precision exactly where the toss would go, adjusting to Hinata’s speed and play-style. He adapts to Hinata’s spikes rather than the spiker adapting to the setter’s toss; it’s rather unprecedented, really. For Hinata to go full swing like that on a toss without looking; his level of trust within Kageyama as a setter must be immeasurable.

“What are you guys!? Deviants?” Ukai grumbles.

The ginger and ravenette first years deadpan. “Deviants…?”

“Why does he think that?” Hinata whispers.

“Beats me,” Kageyama shrugs, and Tsukishima snorts at their oblivious nature. “Tsukishima! Wipe that stupid grin off your stupid face!”

After team NA wins the first set, they quickly move onto the second, and [Name] can tell there’s something off with Hinata, even though she knows very little about him. She can also sense a bit of tension between him and Kageyama; though, she’s gotten the impression that there’s always a bit of friendly tension between the two, there seems to be a bit more than usual. This is apparent when Hinata gets lost in his own thought in the middle of the match, accidentally taking one of Asahi’s powerful spikes to the face.

Another thing [Name] has learned while observing this practice match is that, despite being a built and powerful guy, Asahi is rather timid. He immediately ducks under the net and frets over Hinata, apologizing repeatedly and making sure he’s okay. Nishinoya jokingly comments that Hinata’s somehow still alive as Tsukishima blames the ginger for zoning out in the first place. Takeda begins freaking out beside Ukai, stammering about something that sounds like first aid while the coach deadpans and tries to calm the teacher down.

Hinata sits up and rubs his aching head. “I’m sorry! I’m all right now.”

Daichi takes a role of responsibility as captain. “Are you sure? Maybe you should sit out for now to be safe. I don’t want you getting a concussion.”

Hinata’s eyes widen in fear at his suggestion. “N-No! Really, I-I’m all right! I didn’t dodge it in time, that’s all! It’s nothing serious! It’s not like this is the first time I’ve taken a spike to the face!”

Suga’s gentle smile is full of amusement at this statement. “That’s not a good thing.”

Hinata turns to laugh at Suga, only to glance over his shoulder and adopt an expression of utmost fear. The teammates surrounding the ginger turn to follow his gaze, all of them immediately understanding when they catch sight of Kageyama’s ominous aura as he glares down at Hinata, his anger rather apparent. A few people reel back as the ravenette takes a step forward.

“Why were you daydreaming during a match?” Kageyama asks, his voice threatening. Hinata immediately scrambles to his feet, stumbling backwards as Kageyama continues to approach him. “Nevermind. I know what it is you were thinking about. ‘Being an ace is cool. Being a decoy can’t be my best weapon. That’s stupid and lame.’ You wish you were as tall and as powerful as Azumane-san so that you could be called the ace!”

Hinata’s eyes are wide as he vigorously shakes his head. “N-No! I-I wasn’t thinking that way!”

Kageyama isn’t convinced. “Now that you know there’s an ace, you’re not only dreaming about being him, you’re jealous of him! Clear your head of that shit during a game!”

Asahi stares at Hinata with wide eyes, who currently glares at his shoes, hair curtaining his eyes and fists clenched. “What’s wrong with being jealous? You’ve always been tall, so you could never know what it’s like!”

Hinata and Kageyama have a glare down as Takeda talks off a groundskeeper in order to let them keep the gym open long enough to finish their practice match. [Name] can’t help but chuckle as Takeda successfully sends him off, shooting a thumbs up to Daichi. Tanaka grins wickedly. “Take-sensei, that was totally bitchin’!”

Daichi claps, ignoring Kageyama’s and Hinata’s feud with one another. “All right! Let’s resume play!”

“Yessir!”

Before the next ball can be served, Kageyama steps forward to get the attention of the opposing team’s front line. “Excuse me? My next toss will be to him. Please block him to the best of your ability.”

One of the Neighborhood Association members arches a brow as Kageyama points at Hinata. “What is this? A dare?”

“Yes, it’s a dare,” Kageyama confirms, much to everyone’s surprise, before bowing apologetically. “Forgive me for being so imprudent.”

The member of the NA bursts into howls of laughter in response. “You’re a funny kid! All right, then! Let’s do this dare.”

“Thank you!” Kageyama nods before jogging back to his position in the rotation.

[Name] hums softly as she takes a couple notes. She can’t quite figure out why Kageyama told the opposing team his plan of action. His and Hinata’s quick attack is only as effective as it is due to its undpredicitability. Seeing as Hinata will now be going head on against three suspecting blockers, it will be difficult for him to make the point. However, from everything she’s observed up to this point, she can tell Kageyama is anything but stupid. So, what could the genius setter possibly be planning?

“Right now, you’re nothing but a klutzy shit who happens to be nimble and can jump high,” Kageyama seems to read her mind, beginning to explain his plot to Hinata with a cold gaze. “You will never be the breadwinning ace.”

At this, Hinata bites his lip and seems to fight back even a tear or two. Asahi tenses at this, feeling somewhat responsible for the boy’s dismay, and Tanaka immediately jumps into defense mode, glaring at Kageyama. “Oi!”

Kageyama ignores him, turning fully to face Hinata, glare apparent. “However, as long as I’m around, you’re invincible!”

[Name]’s heart skips several beats as she hears the words directed towards Hinata. They repeat in her head over and over, echoing in her mind. Aloof, her hand shakes as she flips to a certain page and scratches the quote down, never wanting to forget it. She then looks back at Kageyama, holding the utmost respect for the boy now in her heart. Before, she couldn’t really get past the fact that he had a foul mouth and a harsh tone towards his teammates, but now it’s quite apparent to her. Kageyama truly cares for his teammates, especially Hinata, and he will do whatever is right for them to improve as not only a team, but as individuals that make up that team.

Hinata blinks, not fully comprehending the words. “H-Huh…?”

“Azumane-san’s spikes are so forceful, he can cut right through a triple block,” Kageyama continues.

Asahi blushes at the compliment. “Eh, w-well, n-not every time…”

“Oi!” Nishinoya kicks him in the side, teasing him. “You’re getting too flustered!”

“Now, how about you?” Kageyama glares at Hinata. “When I throw you a toss, have you ever been stopped by any blockers?”

Hinata’s eyes widen at the question, for that’s when he realizes: Kageyama’s tosses are always served to him with the most perfect placement that he always avoids any blocker, never having to spike against one in the first place. As the serve is up, Hinata gazes up at the opposing blockers, intimidated by their height.

“Evade!” Kageyama orders, glaring at him. “What else can you do, you moron?”

The ginger immediately springs into action, dipping his shoulder to the left and streaking to the other side of the court before the blockers can even fully comprehend his movement. [Name] audibly gasps at Hinata’s display of speed and agility. The wall catches up to him as Kageyama jumps off the floor for the set, Hinata moving to jump.

Or so it seems.

Hinata fakes what looks like a jump, baiting the wall of three in front of him to jump as well. As soon as their feet lift off the floor, sending them airborne above the net, he immediately pushes off his left foot and bolts back to the right side of the court, jumping up to receive Kageyama’s toss. [Name] stands, the binder sliding off her lap in absolute amazement. Hinata’s spike earns the point before the blockers can even return to the side of the court he’s on, and the satisfaction in his eyes is quite clear as he lands back down on two feet.

Kageyama clenches his fist. “You are not the ace! But with your speed and jumping power paired with my tosses, you can take on any blockers! The ace blasts through the defense for a point. You evade for a point. A point is a point, no matter how it’s earned! You don’t need the ace’s glory. You can hash out more points than anyone! And that’s why our opponents will be marking you, which will free up our other spikers! All thanks to your skills as decoy! You’ll carve a path for the ace! Right!?”

Tanaka gulps as Kageyama suddenly turns to him for confirmation. “Y-Yeah? I mean, right! Your work as a decoy drastically increases our success rate!”

Kageyama nods in approval, continuing to scowl at Hinata, yelling at him. “Exactly! Do you still think your position is ‘uncool’!?”

The emotion in his tone right now is clear. [Name] picks up on his passion immediately, Kageyama’s shoulders heaving slightly as he finishes his tangent, waiting for Hinata’s answer. Her heart aches and she begins to question what she’s gotten herself into. When she accepted Ukai’s request to train a team of boys in volleyball for the next week, she expected that she’d move on after the week was over and lose contact with them. She expected them to be rather ordinary and that she most likely wouldn’t have wanted to keep in touch with them after the training camp.

However, it’s quite clear to her now that this is turning out to be quite the opposite. She’s barely known these boys for a few hours, yet [Name] can feel a strong connection with them. All of them. The amount of respect and companionship they harbor for one another, not to mention the overwhelming talent and potential they provide… [Name] grins, shaking her head and chuckling to herself. What is she going to do, now that she holds room for two different teams of numbskull boys in Japan close to her heart? This is starting to get a bit out of hand…

Hinata gazes down at his right palm longingly, whispering, “I don’t.”

Kageyama arches his brow, irritated by the lack of passion behind his tone. “What?”

Hinata then clenches his fist, yelling at the top of his lungs. “I DON’T!”

Satisfied, Kageyama nods. “Good!”

Everyone stares in astonishment at the situation that just occured, and [Name] grins from the wall she leans against. Hinata glances to his right, looking up at Asahi, who stands across from him behind the net. The ace smiles kindly. “That last hit was incredible.”

At the ace’s words, Hinata’s eyes light up with pride. “T-Thank you!”

As the game continues, [Name] makes her way over to Ukai and Takeda, referring to the latter to gain their attention. “Sensei?”

“Oh, [Last Name]-san!” Takeda is a bit startled by her sudden appearance. “What is it?”

“I just have a question about Kageyama and Hinata,” she states softly, standing beside him as Ukai glances over at her as well. “Have they known each other long? Are they from the same middle school, perhaps? Childhood friends?”

Takeda looks at her, rather perplexed. “Huh? Not at all. Those two only just met at the beginning of the school year. It was a real mess at first, actually, because they didn’t get along at all.”

“I see,” [Name] folds her arms with a sad smile gracing her features, gazing at Kageyama and Hinata as they discuss their next play, reminding her of the two odd first years she befriended at Seirin. “How cruel…”

And with that, the NA team wins the second set with a series of five consecutive jump float serves, the last exchange being a bit longer than the rest, ending with Asahi’s superior spike. [Name] steals a glance at Yamaguchi, who’s manning the scoreboard with Kiyoko, and smirks at his amazement towards the man on the NA team who’d performed the impressive serves. When she’d recommended serving to Yamaguchi, this is what she meant. He has the right sort of arm strength and shoulder flexibility for the particular serve, and she believes he can probably pick it up rather quickly. That is if he’s passionate about it, of course.

As the NA leaves (not after a quick and motivating speech to the Karasuno team), Ukai gathers them around for a pep talk. He mostly gruels on them for their sloppy receives and such, so [Name] gathers up her notes and approaches them, standing beside him and Takeda as she clutches the binder to her chest, smiling as she looks over the boys with pure excitement bubbling in her chest.

Ukai doesn’t ignore her presence, seeing as she can barely sit still. “[Nickname]-san. Did you take the notes I requested?”

“Yep!” she chirps ecstatically, holding the binder out to him, which he takes. “I hope they’re up to your standards!”

He hums, flipping over to the first page, eyes widening as he gasps in response to what he sees. Curious, Takeda also takes a peek at them from over the coach’s shoulder, his heart stopping at the sight. The boys all look among one another, confused as to how some simple notes scrawled out during a two-set practice match could pull such a reaction. What they truly wonder is if they’re breathtakingly good or amazingly terrible.

Nishinoya is the first to succumb to his curiosity, skipping over to take the binder and flipping through the pages, eyes twinkling. “Holy shit, [Name]-san! These are incredible!”

At those words, the rest of the team huddles around to go through the binder, bewildered by what they find. There’s a separate section for every player, clearly defined and put in order by class year, starting with the third years. In each section, there’s a perfectly drawn model of each boy and his build, notes labeling to their physical attributes, such as height, weight, and even strange numbers that she marked on certain muscles, indicating strength and flexibility. How she came up with those numbers, the team is unsure, but no one decides to ask.

[Name]’s also clearly labeled each player’s strengths and weaknesses, along with their personality on the court and compatibility with each player. Based on that, she’s started coming up with new strategies for each player to build upon and plays that they can improve upon in order to get better not only as individuals, but as a team.

“So these are the notorious [Last Name][Name] notes,” Takeda breathes in disbelief. “You must be an incredible manager, [Last Name]-san.”

She blushes, flattered by the compliment. “Oh, please… I did the best I could do with the time I had, but I intend to add to them throughout the training camp. I just hope they’ll be useful to you all once I’m gone. But, if you wanna convince my boys on the basketball team to tell me I’m a good manager every once in a while, I’d greatly appreciate it!”

As Takeda and [Name] laugh lightly among one another at the latter’s joke, Karasuno look among one another in order to make sure that they were all on the same page before shifting their eyes to all land on [Name]. It’s quite apparent to them now that she’s not messing around, and her time spent here will greatly benefit their overall improvement. However, Kageyama’s hope to see her in action has yet to be fulfilled.

As if reading his mind, [Name] turns to the ravenette. “Mr. Kageyama… I couldn’t help but be entranced watching you toss… Would it be too much to ask for you to set just one my way, perhaps?”

He arches a brow at her, but doesn’t see a problem answering her request. “Sure.”

And so, he lines up next to the net with the cart full of volleyballs beside him, [Name] standing at the far back line of the court. He glances at her, silently making sure she’s ready. She gives him an assured nod, a determined glint in her eye. The rest of the team stands by and watches, not sure of what else to do at the moment. Besides, everyone but Ukai was curious to see how [Last Name][Name] was in action.

“Here goes,” Kageyama warns her that he’s starting, and she takes off at an immediate minus tempo, shocking him slightly, seeing as the volleyball is barely in his hands above his head. He shakes it off, however, not wanting to send her a botched toss. As she jumps into the air, arms arched behind her back for a more powerful lift off, it’s as if a pair of wings sprout out of her back, helping her soar upwards. Kageyama’s eyes widen as he sees her looking down at him, patiently awaiting the superhuman toss she desires. The aura coming off of her now is completely different than the sweet girl he shook hands with just hours ago. Her presence is overwhelming, eerily staring down at him as if silently saying, ‘don’t be a waste of my time’. Determined to prove to her that his effort is worth her effort, he sends a quick and powerful toss, the trajectory perfectly lining up with the height of her swing. As soon as he sets the ball, [Name]’s [E/C] eyes shift from him to the opposite side of the court, never the ball. Kageyama’s eyes widen at this; having never synched up with him once she’s already trusting that he’d get the ball exactly where it needs to go. Eyes flickering gold, she locks onto a spot in the far right corner of the court, licks her lips, and slams down onto the ball with all the force she can muster into the swing. The ball stings the flesh of her palm, a sense of exhilaration washing over her as she watches it rocket down to the exact spot she’d been aiming for, the sound of the ball slamming against hardwood echoing throughout the entire gym.

She touches back down onto the floor with elegance, her hair swaying behind her gently. [Name]’s eyes twinkle, turning to face Kageyama with an expression full of elation. She cheers happily, jumping up and down to exert her pent up energy. “What a stupendous toss! Really, how do you do it!? That was so effortless to hit! I’m impressed! More than impressed!”

Meanwhile, Kageyama and the rest of the boys are more impressed by her, baffled and at a loss for words. That was easily one of the most precise spikes any of them had ever seen. Kageyama’s the first to get over his shock. “[L-Last Name]-san… I thought you said you were a libero?”

She stops jumping, tilting her head at him. “That’s right. I am.”

This only confuses him further. “Why the hell are you playing libero when you can make points like that!?”

She blinks, blushing subtly with a sad smile. “Well, libero was sort of the position I got pushed towards back on my team in America. No one else could play it well, so I stepped up and did it. If I’m being honest, I think my favorite position was setter; it was the most challenging for me and I struggled with tossing the most. If I'm being honest, I sucked at it. Therefore, it was the most fun to figure out. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love playing libero. I wouldn't give my position up for the world. It’s just-... getting in a good toss was just so exhilarating. However, my mother was a setter, and I wanted to do everything in my power to be nothing like her-... Ah, sorry. In any case, I’m also rather short and was most accustomed to the position. Libero are expected to dive and slide across hardwood floors with ease, and I wasn’t really afraid of the bruises I’d earn because of it. Oh, and also, I have small boobs, so they don’t get in the way of diving and sliding, y’know?”

The team deadpans as she flaunts her lacking cup size by sliding a flat hand down her chest above her shirt, finding the motion amusing while the other boys blush. As she giggles to herself, they stare at her with admiration, nevertheless. Asahi clears his throat, trying not to look at her as she continues to joke about her flat chest. “[Last Name]-san… If you’ve been playing libero your whole life, why are you so good at spiking in the first place?”

She gazes up at him, distracted from her breasts for the moment. “Oh. Well, in all honesty, I’m not that great. You see, I can’t jump high at all. Also, I’m not all that strong. I might have one or two good and powerful ones, but after that, all I’ve got is precision. The only reason the spike I did just now was so impressive was a fluke, really. Kageyama’s toss was the only reason I could put so much power behind it. I trusted he’d get it to exactly where I’d hit it, so I didn’t need to focus on where I swung and instead on the power behind it. So I’m actually quite useless when it comes to offense, really. Well, except for my serves. If I miss one thing after becoming a libero, it’s being able to serve.”

Nishinoya wastes no time after hearing this, hastily handing her a ball from the cart as he runs to the opposite side of the court. “I demand that you hit me one!”

Eyes wide, she suddenly grins at his enthusiasm, making her way to the serving position. “All right, then. Just one, though. I don’t want to hold you guys up from stretching any longer.”

As soon as she stands a few paces back from the serving line, her demeanor completely switches. As it was kind and excitable before, it now becomes ruthless and daunting, a flame seeming to spark within her calculating optics. She bounces the ball a couple times before catching it smoothly between her palms, spinning it skillfully as she looks up at Nishinoya, brow furrowed. He grins at her determination, equally determined to receive the serve she’s about to send his way,

With a deep breath, she tosses the ball up the second she exhales. Taking a few running steps forward, eyes taking in every movement, she licks her lips. The toss is good. Leaning her weight onto her left foot, she springs off the floor and pulls her right arm back, her spine arching with the movement. Her gold eyes take the quick second she’s airborne to assess her target, deciding on the best place to aim based off of Nishinoya’s position. Deciding to be a bit cocky, she smirks at him; her way of letting him know the ball’s coming straight for him. He grins, accepting the challenge head on.

At the pinnacle of her jump, her arm snaps forward like a bolt of lightning in the air, palm slamming against the ball and sending it hurdling across the net. The trajectory is perfect, as low as it could possibly be to the top of the net without the ball skimming it. She did as she promised she would, the ball headed straight for Nishinoya, and he crouches to receive it with a smirk. As the ball hits his forearms, however, his eyes widen in fear as the power of the serve knocks him off his feet, and the ball goes flying out of bounds behind him.

With a soft squeak of her sneakers, [Name] touches back down on the floor, grin returning to her lips as she beams at her palm. “Man, I sure am rusty but… damn, that felt good!”

“I-Incredible…” Hinata whispers to himself as he watches [Name] celebrate, Nishinoya immediately sprinting over to her and praising her for the serve, ordering that she send him another one.

However, Ukai answers for her. “That’s enough! It’s getting late! Get your stretches in so that we can clean and lock the gym up before heading to home. Training Camp starts tomorrow, so I expect you all to be well rested and back here first thing in the morning!”

Before any of the guys can swarm [Name] any longer, Ukai pulls her to the side to have a quick chat with her concerning the camp. The boys would watch them as they cleaned, catching her nodding or laughing every once in a while. And after a while, she gives Ukai a quick hug before heading out the gym doors. It takes them all a moment to realize that she’d just left for the night, and wouldn’t be stepping foot back into the gym until the next morning. With a heaved sigh, they all get back to cleaning, telling themselves over and over again that this wasn’t the last time they’ll be seeing her.

“Once you’re done cleaning, everyone gather ‘round!” coach Ukai orders, pulling his cell out of his pocket and scrawling something down on a post-it note before the circle around him. “[Last Name]-san’s headed back to her place in Tokyo for the night, but since she lives so far away, she’ll be staying in the cabins with us for the remainder of the camp starting tomorrow. However, after that, as you know, she’s pretty much gone for good, so in order to keep in touch, [Last Name]-san requested that I give you all her cell phone number. Use it appropriately; if I find out any of you boys are texting her the things you were most likely thinking about while staring at her spandex, I’ll give you a good run for your money, you hear!?”

“Y-Yessir!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're here!!! :)
> 
> As promised, I rushed through this to finish it for you all. I hope it was up to your standards. Expect another chapter or two with Karasuno, then we're going back to Seirin for the Championship match against Touou. A couple chapters of that, then it'll be heavy Haikyuu for a couple chapters straight. Promise! I really am trying to intermingle the two stories as best as I can to a somewhat realistic timeline, so sorry if that's a bit annoying to you :( 
> 
> In any case, thank y'all for even reading this far in the first place! Updates are probably going to get pretty slow from now on. School is really annoying at the moment, especially with all this virtual bullshit I've got to deal with. Stay safe, y'all! Love you :)


	11. Golden Week

It’s 5:30 in the morning and the first day of Golden Week. You’d think I’d take my days off of school to at least sleep in, but I guess that’s out of the picture. With a solid yawn, I make my way out of my apartment carrying several bags I threw together after getting home late last night; then I’d worked on a couple things for the basketball team before realizing it’s already five and I should probably get going, seeing as I have several stops to make along the way back to the Miyagi Prefecture. 

Locking up behind me, I readjust all the baggage I carry and make my way to the elevator, glad to see that I’m the only one awake this early in the morning, which means I don’t have to suffer the awkward small talk that all the business men living in this building try to make with me. Instead, I throw two of my bags on the floor and relax a bit, pressing the button that will take me down to the ground floor and allowing the soft elevator music to go through one ear and out the other.

The trip will take awhile, seeing as I live on the top floor. Therefore, I take the time I have to look over myself, seeing as every wall in the elevator is made out of reflective glass. Damn, I’m such a mess. Dressed in a pair of fitted gray leggings and a pair of white air force ones, I had quickly thrown one of my old high school sweatshirts on, hood over my head to hide my disheveled hair.

Suddenly, a familiar ding reaches my ears, startling me as the doors slide open. Rolling my eyes at my own drift of mind, I return the bags on the floor to my grasp and shuffle out of the elevator and into the main lobby.

With a quick and polite nod to the three receptionists working this morning, I make my way to the garage instead of the main entrance. This private garage is for inhabitant use only, with the few exceptions for guests. I head over to my familiar honda civic and unlock it, the horn chirping once to indicate I have done so successfully. Popping the trunk, I throw a couple of the bigger and heavier bags in with a grunt. Slamming the boot shut, I make my way to the back and throw the remainder of the bags in the seats, seeing as no one will be sitting there.

All the bags off my shoulders, I let out a sigh of relief as I plop down into the driver’s seat, taking a moment to relax and catch my breath. Pulling out my cell, which I haven’t checked all night, I turn it on in order to connect the bluetooth to my radio; therefore, I’m surprised by all the notifications I’ve received in the past couple of hours. 

Every text message is from an unknown sender, so I check them all carefully. The first one I open reads:

‘Sorry for texting you so late, [Name], but this is Sugawara Koshi from the volleyball team. Just thought I’d make sure your number worked before the first day of camp tomorrow. See you then :)’

I can’t help but smile a bit, remembering the gentle looking silver haired one. His texting personality fits his in-life personality well. Realizing that most of these texts are probably from the Karasuno volleyball team, I skim through them quickly.

‘This is Sawamura Daichi. I hope my team is treating you with respect; sorry if they aren’t. See you tomorrow.’

‘[Name]! It’s Hinata Shoyo! Remember me? Can’t wait to see you tomorrow and your awesome volleyball skills! You’re so cool! I want you to teach me everything you know! I’M SO EXCITED!’

‘[Name]! You’re the first girl to have ever given me her number willingly! It’s Tanaka, by the way.’

‘Thought I’d try texting you before tomorrow. It’s Ennoshita, so don’t freak out :)’

‘[NAAAAAAAAAAAMMEEEEE]! It’s Nishinoya, but feel free to call me Noya ;) Also I want to receive more of your serves this week! And I have to see you in action as a libero! I didn’t get to see you take any receives today, and I’m disappointed because I looked you up online and it says you were really good at it but you quit volleyball last year :( Anyway, see you tomorrow morning, [Name]!’

‘Hey, [Last Name], this is Yamaguchi :) I just wanted to make sure your number worked, is all. Also… I think you were right, earlier. I think I might try improving my serve.’

‘Kageyama Tobio.’

I can’t help but snort at the last one I open. No personality in the message at all, just clearly stating the purpose to pair his name with the number. At least he texted. I can count quite a few from the team that didn’t shoot a text last night. Whatever. I’m sure we’ll all become friends soon enough. Finally playing some chill music for the early morning, I pull out of the private garage and make my way for a quick stop at Seirin.

I do this in order to bring an empty black gym bag with me and jog over to the gym. It’s rather chilly this early in the morning, my breath forming a thin mist around my head. I grab the keys Riko lent me as manager and head into the gym, unlocking the doors and sliding them open. I jog past the locker rooms and into the basketball club office. In the corner of the room, next to the television, is a box full of tapes and CDs, the cardboard labeled ‘Films’. 

Dropping down to my knees, I set the keys aside and begin rummaging through the different films from different basketball games. I snag a couple that I’ve deemed important for upcoming games and throw them into the empty bag. A lot of them about Aomine and Touou as well. Once I’m certain I have all the films I need, I also circle around to a desk that’s covered in Riko’s stuff. Here, I leave a brief note explaining where I’m going to be and asking for her forgiveness. I also explain that I will be sending her new plays and strategies along with information on potential opponents every night around the same time, proving to her that I wouldn’t be slacking off.

With that, I head back out the gym, locking up behind me and throwing the keys back on the hook. Unlocking my car, I throw the bag full of film in my passenger seat and speed off, the sun beginning to rise and a long car ride in front of me. Biting my lip, I decide that maybe I’ll stop and get something to eat along the way to Karasuno.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Green tea in hand, I scramble out of the car at around eight in the morning, finally pulled up to the parking lot in front of Karasuno High School. Damn, I’m late. Not extremely late, but it looks bad on my part for not being punctual two days in a row. Sure, I live far away, but this shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Snagging just one of my many bags along with my tea and my phone, I begin bolting towards the gym.

I curse myself when I hear volleyballs slamming and sneakers squeaking against the polished floors, indicating that they’ve already started training without me. What kind of lousy trainer am I? With a pant and a grunt, I throw the gym doors open and pull the hood off of my head, my hair most likely looking like an insane mess. Everyone turns to look at me upon entry, and I lean against the doorframe to catch a bit of breath.

“Sorry I’m late!” I quickly apologize, bowing at a ninety degree angle stiffly. 

A big hand slams on my back, Ukai smirking at me. “[Name]-san, late two days in a row? How unprofessional.”

Usually, I’d throw some wit right back at him, but he isn’t wrong, so I take the teasing to heart, bowing lower. “I know, I’m sorry!”

He snorts loudly, pushing me gently. “I was yanking your chain, [Name]-san. Now, the boys are warming up, but we’re working on receiving today. Go get changed so you can school ‘em on good defense.”

“R-Right,” I stand upright again, adjusting the bag over my shoulder. “I’ll be right back, then.”

After changing into my volleyball shoes, knee pads, spandex and a t-shirt, I return to the gym, tossing my empty green tea into the recycling bin as I re-enter the gym. I notice that the boys are stretching, which means they’ve finished up warm ups. 

“Oi, you’re back,” Ukai grunts, standing on top of a step ladder on the opposite side of the net and holding a flat board in his hands. “We’re going to have Nishinoya and Sawamura working on block-follow, your specialty. Come give some examples for these two before I have you work with the rest, yeah?”

“Oh, sure!” I chirp, jogging over to him on the opposite side of the net, where Nishinoya and Daichi stand. I greet them with a friendly smile. “Good morning, Mr. Daichi. Noya-san.”

The captain seems confused as to why I’ve given a nickname to the libero without further notice, but said libero’s eyes widen with euphoria, enjoying the nickname he allowed me to give him very much. “G-Good morning, [Name]-san! Are you going to show us your receives today!?”

“Mm hmm,” I nod, waving to Kiyoko as she stands by the ball cart. She’ll most likely be hitting them into the board that Ukai holds so that they reciche down towards the floor for me to receive. “Ready when you are, Kiyoko-chan!”

Everyone seems baffled by the nickname I give the manager except her. She’d started calling me [Name]-chan as soon as she showed me to the locker rooms yesterday, so it only seemed fitting I refer to her the same way. She nods, grabbing a ball from the cart and spiking it into the board, in which Ukai holds firm so that the ball bounces off of it at maximum speed, rocketing towards the floor at a very fast pace.

This gives me little time to react; however, it’s as if my vision moves in slow motion, calculating exactly where the ball is going to hit on the ground. From this point on, all I have to do is reach that spot first. With a soft huff of breath, I dive onto the floor and propel myself forward, extending my right hand out as I slide towards the location I’d singled out before. With my palm flat against the floor, I slide my hand just beneath the ball in the knick of time, allowing it to bounce off of my knuckles and hurdle back upwards, headed straight for the standard setting position. It arches smoothly and bounces in the spot, in which I take the time to stand back up.

There’s a split second of silence before Nishinoya yells loudly, hazel eyes twinkling and his fists pumped in the air as he jumps up in excitement. “WHOA! [Name]-san, you reacted to that so fast! And that pancake was perfect! Right to the setter! It’s like you knew exactly where it was gonna go before it even hit the board! Then you dove like ‘swoosh’ and scooped it up like ‘pom’!”

I blink, amused by his sound effects, laughing softly. “Yeah, exactly!”

Leaving Ukai with Daichi and Nishinoya to work on their block receives, I set up a drill for the rest of the team to work on basic receives. A rotation between half the players. For half the drill, half the boys will be spiking balls over the net for the other half to receive before switching. 

I demonstrate first before initiating the drill. “Mr. Kageyama. Can you spike me one?”

He arches a brow at my request, but doesn’t deny it. In a swift movement, Takeda tosses a ball for him up in the air and Kageyama jumps up to hit it. I eye his form, noticing the way he scowls at me as he moves to hit it. That form, that placement; a straight. My eyes are wide. I expected him to go for something a bit more simple. I’m not in the correct position to receive a solid straight. I’m too far away.

Again, time seems to move slower after Kageyama hits the ball, and my gaze follows it as I calculate linearly where the ball is most likely going to hit the floor. Perfect positioning right along the line. A damn near perfect straight. Brows furrowed, I refuse to accept defeat, mind racing on what to do to save it. That’s when my body acts on its own accord, too impatient to wait for my mind to come up with a plan. So, instead, I move on pure instinct.

I throw my left leg out as far as it can reach, crouching low to the ground in order to do so. Carefully pointing my toe, I make sure the surface of my ankle is flat enough for the ball to bounce off of. It hits the exact spot I predicted it would, and my eyes glaze over my left shoulder to watch it bounce off of my shoe. From there, it isn’t a perfect volley to the setting position, like before, but I figured saving it would be enough of an accomplishment.

Seems everyone else thinks so, too. Nishinoya, absolutely inspired, is once again the one to let out a yell of excitement, in which he has to be held back by Daichi so that they can continue their personal drill. He remains starstruck by the phenomenal save, his eyes lingering on my form. Standing back up again, I smirk at Kageyama’s reaction, his eyes wide. It’s obvious he was trying to get me to miss it by going for the straight, so I’m smug that I was able to save it.

“Well, I suppose that shows you all that the number one rule when it comes to receiving is that you should do everything in your power to keep the ball in the air,” I state, amusement in my tone as I scoop up the ball I just dug. “But I think we should start with basic receives first, don’t you, Mr. Kageyama? A normal spike will suffice.”

He’s at a loss for words as I toss him the ball, patiently waiting for the second spike. He reluctantly gives it to me so that I can show the most proper form for a basic receive, where they should hit the ball and how they should position themselves in order to get it to the setter as efficiently as possible. 

“Always have the setter’s position in mind. And watch the hitter as they go in for the kill; they’ll often give away what kind of spike they’re going to for through habitual body language. You can often predict where the ball is going to end up before it’s even hit,” I explain before getting into position. “Always try and position yourself centered behind the ball. If you can get your body behind the ball, it will most likely go up, whether you properly receive it or not. And your platform should be flat and sturdy. Try to get your elbows touching, if you can. If not, don’t worry; not very many people can. Just get them as close together as you can. Cushion with your shoulders. Dip whichever one is leading in the direction you need to aim the pass for. And remember, it’s all in the legs.”

Then I set them loose, helping toss balls up for the spikers to hit. I would help with the spiking, but as I told them all yesterday, my spikes aren’t consistent and honestly not that great.

The training lasts all day, with frequent breaks and soon nightfall. I help clean up the gym with the rest of the team, getting to know a lot of them better. Locking up the gym, I follow them to the nearby lodge we’d be staying in for the duration of the Training Camp. I immediately join Kiyoko and Takeda in the kitchen to help prepare dinner for the entire team, doing as much as I can to be of assistance. I’m afraid I’m still not accustomed to Japanese cuisine, quite yet, and don’t have much knowledge on preparing it.

Eating with the team, I can’t help but notice that four of them remind me a lot of Kagami when it comes to appetite. Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Nishinoya stuff their faces like there’s no tomorrow, politely requesting seconds and thirds for me to serve them. I myself eat two helpings, being the athletic American I am, but still…

Kiyoko goes home after dinner, seeing as she lives nearby, which leaves me to be the only girl staying at the camp with the entire team full of teenage boys. Thankfully I get my own room to stay in, but I’ll have to wait for all the boys to finish in the washroom before I can use the showers. In the meantime, I begin making trips back and forth from my car in order to bring all of my bags inside. I may look kind of snobby bringing so much luggage on a one week training camp, but it isn’t all that it looks like. I really only have two bags full of clothes and sportswear while the remainder of the bags are full of binders and books and notes and stuff to take for both the volleyball team and my basketball team back at Seirin.

As I’m lugging a few bags through the entrance, I notice someone tall leaning against the doorframe. “Oi. It’s your turn to shower.”

“Oh, Mr. Tsukishima,” I greet with a fatigued smile. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to head down there as soon as I’m finished bringing in my bags.”

“Tch. Who needs so many bags for a training camp?” he scoffs.

“The trainer,” I wink, giving him a peak of the contents of one of the bags. “All my notes and plays for you guys will be taken in these binders. I plan on leaving everything you’ll need here with you by the end of the week, so…”

“Ah, [Last Name]-san. Did Tsukishima tell you that the showers are free?” Daichi walks around the corner, his hair damp.

“Oh, yes!” I chirp politely. “Thank you, I’ll be heading down in a moment. I just have a couple more bags to bring in.”

“Oh, I see. Let me help you with those!” he offers, and I’m not stuck up enough to refuse him. “I’ll take these to your room?”

“That would be wonderful, thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it. Tsukishima, help her carry in the rest.”

“Tch. Why do I have to?” he groans, rubbing his eye beneath his glasses.

All of a sudden, Daichi’s aura becomes horrifying, reminding me a lot of a certain bespectacled captain back at Seirin. “Because it’s polite for a guy to help a girl carry things in so that she can get some rest.”

Daichi doesn’t have to say much more than that, for Tsukishima reluctantly accompanies me back to my car. He arches a brow as I approach the vehicle. “You can drive?”

“Yup,” I answer, pulling out the last three bags and tossing them on the ground. Closing the doors, I lock the car, hearing the familiar chirp from the vehicle. “It took a little while, but I got my license from America transferred over here. Just makes it easier to get from place to place, you know? Here. Can you just take this one bag? I can handle the rest.”

He doesn’t say anything as he picks up the bag I was referring to and tosses it over his shoulder. He stands and waits for me to grab the rest. I position the straps of the remaining two bags over my shoulders and begin heading back to the lodge, my walking pattern a bit off balanced due to the additional weight. I try to make a bit of small talk with the tall blond beside me, but he typically only ever responds in one-word answers.

Therefore, I resort to staring at him, which seems to tick him off after awhile. “What’re you staring at, shortstack?”

I’m unphased by the insult about my height, continuing to stare at him emotionlessly. “...Why do you try so hard to come off as an asshole?”

“What?”

“You put so much effort into making everyone believe you’re a jerk,” I state softly, smiling as we reach the entrance. “But I overheard your conversation on the phone earlier today. You and your brother must be close.”

“T-That was not-...”

“Here we are,” I chirp, having not heard what he’d grumbled under his breath, swinging a door open. I didn’t expect to find Daichi, Asahi, Suga, Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Kageyama inside of my room, however, all crowded around my bags. “O-Oh. Hello, everyone.”

Daichi’s face implodes, just now realizing how bad this must look. “[L-Last Name]-san! Sorry for intruding! I-It’s just when I brought your bag in here, I couldn’t help but notice all the binders and stuff and got a little curious. Please forgive us for snooping!”

I blink, smiling warmly. “It’s no problem, really! My notes are meant to be looked through, so you guys can feel free to stop by whenever. Oh, you can set the bag down there, Tsukki.”

The blond flinches at the nickname I decide to assign him, whether he likes it or not. “Tsukki? I never-...”

I wave nonchalantly. “Tsukishima has so many syllables. I couldn’t be bothered. Tsukki just works so much better and saves me the time of day.”

At this, the blond grumbles a bit under his breath in my general direction, brows furrowed. Nevertheless, he does as told and sets it down. Suga arches a brow as I put the two I carry next to it. “You made [Name]-san carry two bags, Tsukishima?”

Daichi growls at this. “Tsukishima, you disrespectful-...”

“Please, forgive him,” I wave my hands apologetically. “I only offered him one bag to carry. It was the only extra one, so he saved me from making two trips regardless of how many he carried for me. Besides, I’m a big girl, I can carry heavy things myself.”

A couple of the boys blush at these words. Two of them are a bit too distracted, flipping through one of my binders as they sit on my bed. Nishinoya gawks at the pages Kageyama flips through. “[Name]-san? Is this your basketball team?”

My eyes widen, licking my lip as I stalk over to them and take a seat beside Kageyama. It’s the binder of notes I took during the first Seirin practice I came to; it was a Thursday. The notes are rather basic, but I’ve been building off of them since then. Marking down improved numbers for their stats, adjusting their body sketches to include muscle build, and et cetera. I smile, the page they're currently on being Izuki’s.

“Ah, yes. Those boys are my pride and joy,” I admit softly before looking at Kageyama and Nishinoya beside me. “You guys remind me a lot of them, actually. I hope we can become as close as I am with them. I don’t have many friends here in Japan beyond the people I’ve met through basketball, so it would be nice to have other people to hang out with…”

“...I-I’ll be your friend, [Name]-san!” Tanaka suddenly exclaims, kneeling before me as I sit on the bed.

Nishinoya takes this as his clue to jump into action, pushing him aside. “Me too! I’ll be your friend!”

I giggle at the two, patting both of their heads. “Thanks, Noya-senpai. Tanaka-senpai. I really appreciate it!”

Suddenly, the two collapse out of pure delight, drooling on my floor as they chuckle euphorically. I arch a brow, confused as to what I could’ve just done, when Kageyama looks down at me nonchalantly, binder still in his lap. “Now you’ve done it. You’ll never be able to escape them after you’ve called them ‘senpai’.”

“Ah, I see,” I giggle at the two. “I don’t mind. One of the second years back at Seirin makes sure I call him senpai, too, even though I'd already been doing so willingly. I think it’s got something to do with a kink, huh?”

While I laugh at my own joke, Kageyama flushes deeply, obviously made uncomfortable by my words. This only makes me laugh harder as I stand from my bed and grab a towel laid out for me nearby. 

“You guys are free to stay in here and look through my stuff more if you want, but I’m going to go and take a shower, now.”

With that, I close the door behind me and head towards the bath. I find no one in my room when I return. Only to find all my notes returned to their bags and my bed neatly made. I smile. I think I’m going to like these boys.

The next morning, I wake up at six and go on an hour long morning jog. Coming back, I help prepare breakfast for the boys, who wake up at 7:30. Training begins at 8:30. After two hours of receiving, spiking, and serving drills, there’s a twenty minute break before I accompany them on a long group jog. Which turns into a race between Kageyama and Hinata. I laugh at their competition, seeing as they glare and yell at each other up in front of the group.

“Oi, dumbass, where are you going!?”

Suddenly, Hinata bolts up ahead, outrunning the rest of the team by leaps and bounds. I gawk at his speed and endurance while Kageyama slows his pace back down to the rest of the group, scoffing about Hinata’s stupidity. Daichi, meanwhile, worries for the boy’s safety.

“I can catch up to him if you’d like,” I offer sweetly,

“Good luck with that,” Kageyama rolls his eyes. “The idiot doesn’t know when he’s going to blow a fuse. He’ll run that fast until he collapses-...”

Deciding I should probably find him, then, I pick up my pace and outrun the group running along the side of the street, a few audible gasps behind me as they admire my pace. It doesn’t take long for me to disappear from sight of the team, running along the path in order to find where Hinata’s run off to.

Eventually, I find the redhead talking to some other boy on the side of the road. This boy wears a red warmup uniform, playing a mobile game. He’s no taller than Hinata, has dyed-blond hair that’s growing out brunet at the roots, and bored brown eyes.

“Hey, Hina-chan,” I get the redhead’s attention immediately, his face glowing brighter than his hair at the nickname. “Everyone’s worried. We should get back to the team. Oh, who’s this?”

“Kozume… Kenma,” the boy in red mumbles shyly, looking at me with a calculating gaze.

I beam, holding my hand out, which he tentatively shakes. “[Last Name][Name], but call me [Name]! Nice to meet you, Mr. Kozume.”

“...You can call me Kenma,” he tells me softly.

“Alright then, Kenma,” I beam. “You play volleyball? What position?”

“....Setter.”

Hinata’s clearly amused by this. “Wow! You’re nothing like our setter! Ours is more of a ‘grrr’ kind of guy, y’know?”

I smile at Hinata’s childlike behavior before facing Kenma once more. “So, what school is it that you-...”

“Kenma!” A clear cut voice interrupts me, calling for the boy before me from a couple meters away.

“Oh, Kuroo,” Kenma recognizes the boy, putting his phone away and standing. “I’ve gotta go. See you later, Shoyo. [Name].”

I gaze at the new guy, eyes glowing gold for just a second to scan his abilities. 6’2, 166 lbs. His hands are large and his palms are rough; a middle blocker. His black hair is wild and his narrow golden eyes accompanying a sly smirk. He’s rather cat-like in nature, I’d say.

“Hina-chan. We should get going, too,” I remind the boy.

He jumps, wincing and shaking nervously as he blushes, bowing repeatedly. “I’m sorry! I ran so fast that I went the wrong way! I’m sorry!”

“No worries. Let’s head back. I've got to help make lunch!”

“R-Right!”

Another night, another big meal. Tsukishima deadpans at Kageyama and Hinata as they devour their food, asking for seconds before anyone can get through their first serving. “Where do you guys even get that appetite?”

“Oi, you better force it down if you have to!” Nishinoya orders, pointing his chopsticks at the blond. “[Name]-san and Kiyoko-san cooked this meal with their own heavenly hands!” 

I giggle, flattered by the boy as he defends my cooking.

The next day, I go on another morning run, barely noticing that Kageyama went on one too as I was coming back. He glances at me momentarily, but I pay no mind to him as I head back inside to prepare breakfast.

Ukai presents the starting lineup to the team, consisting of Daichi, Hinata, Tanaka, Asahi, Tsukishima, Kageyama, and Nishinoya as their libero. A fair starting lineup, I’d agree.

By the fourth day, I’d say that the boys and I have become fairly acquainted, knowing more about each other by the day. Even Kageyama and Tsukishima talk to me regularly enough, even if it’s strictly volleyball talk with the ravenette - who I’ve nicknamed Kags, much to his opposition - and witty banters with the blond. Kiyoko and I are as friendly as ever, and I chat cheerfully with her as I help her deliver the uniforms to the boys after they’ve been cleaned and altered. Hinata goes on and on about getting the same number as this ‘Little Giant’ character he’s been overly praising nonstop since day one. I took it upon myself to look the legendary ace up and assign the jersey to Hinata. No need to tell him that, though. He can continue to believe it was fate that led him to No. 10.

I’ve become close enough to even joke around with the boys, pushing their buttons a bit. I smirk at Kageyama. “I must say, you look very attractive in black, Kags.”

As the ravenette retorts at me out of embarrassment, Nishinoya and Hinata jump up and down before me, obviously expecting a compliment of their own, which I gladly give, causing them to clutch their hearts tightly in pure joy. And I don’t hold back on the compliments for the other boys, either.

“Yamaguchi-san, your freckles look adorable in this lighting!” the boy blushes.

It’s my last night with them the next day, and I decide that after my shower, I’d hang out with all the boys in their big room, chatting among them all on their futons. None of them know it’s my last day with them, however, seeing as their game against Nekoma is tomorrow and I’m expected to accompany them to it. However, the frequent calls I’m ignoring from Riko tells me that my time is running short.

It’s rather sad, really. Over the course of just one week, I feel just about as close to these volleyball dorks as I do with my basketball heads back at Seirin. I’m finding it hard to leave as I tell them all goodnight and head back to my room. I’ve gotten especially close to Hinata and Kageyama, seeing as those two remind me so much of Kagami and Kuroko. Nishinoya and Tanaka, too; they remind me of Izuki and Koga. And Suga’s so easy to hold a conversation with, being the gentleman he is. And as much as Tsukishima likes to say he despises me, I know he has an affinity for our squabbles of wit. Yamaguchi is sweet, too. Ennoshita is such a joy to gossip with, and Kinoshita is so helpful. Narita is a rather funny guy and Asahi has started warming up to me; he's so incredibly sweet and gentle for his size. And of course, Daichi... It's hard to believe he's even a teenager with the level of maturity he displays. 

I sigh, raking a hand through my damp hair as I reach my room, closing the door behind me. I begin packing up some of my stuff, throwing things into their respective bags. As I’m doing so, my phone begins buzzing on the mattress beside me, and I cringe at the contact, reluctantly raising the device to my ear.

“Riko-chan. I’m on my way back now.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As Kageyama's lacing up his trainers for his regular morning run the next day, he can’t help but look up when hears the doors to the lodge to his left swing open, the old hinges creaking softly. A cloud of mist expels from his lips as he leans to see who it is, his mind wandering. He can only assume that it's [Name]. He's noticed that she often goes on morning runs, too. However, she usually gets back by the time he's just starting his. The sun has barely risen, casting golden rays over gray clouds and fading stars. 

His prediction is correct, for [Name] is the one who stumbles outside. However, he had expected her to be in joggers and carrying maybe a water bottle, ready for a run. Instead, she lugs several heavy looking bags outside, straps dangling from her shoulders and an expressionless look on her face. Kageyama tilts his head in confusion, staring at her as he attempts to comprehend what’s going on. Perhaps she's already finished her run and is coming out to retrieve something... But that wouldn't explain why she's carrying ten of those bags on her shoulders and around her neck. That's when his eyes widen. 

She’s leaving.

He gives up on tying his shoe halfway through, realization hitting him like a serve to the back of the head. If she leaves now, Kageyama may never have the chance to see her again. Then, it’s as if his body moves on its own as he stands and mindlessly walk towards her, stumbling a bit as he breaks into a jog.

“[Last Name]-san!” he calls out to her as he's approaching.

Her mystifying [E/C] eyes send shivers down Kageyama's spine when they meet his steel gaze; her eyes widen upon seeing him as she glances over her shoulder, turning to face him fully once he's caught up to her. One of the bag straps on her shoulders begins to slip, and she quickly shrugs to readjust it. “K-Kags! D-Damn it… I forgot that you went on morning jogs…”

“You’re leaving,” he states plainly, glancing at the several bags she carries.

“Y-Yes…” she bites her lip guiltily, unable to look him in the eye. “Riko-chan demands I be back home for practice today. She’s a bit angry with me, you see, and I have to face her wrath sooner or later. There’s no point avoiding it any longer…”

Kageyama seemingly ignores her explanation. “Without saying goodbye.”

Her breath hitches, no cloud of mist produced by her parted lips as she holds it in. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t want to distract you guys from your game. I-I left a note-...”

“Hinata’s going to be devastated,” Kageyama informs her, his throat swelling. He does well to hide it, his expression stoic as ever. “You’re his idol, you know.”

Her eyes widen at my words. “T-That’s not true… The Tiny Giant-...”

“Is someone he’s never seen play,” he interrupts her once again. “He looks up to you.”

Kageyama suddenly feels a twinge of guilt when he senses that something within her snaps; no tears brim her eyes, no cracks in her voice when she speaks. However, it isn't difficult for Kageyama to pick up on the fact he might’ve said something he probably shouldn’t have. “Kags... The week I’ve spent with you, Hinata, your volleyball team… it has been a week I will never forget. However, you must realize that my responsibility lies elsewhere. While I’ve been called upon as a trainer for a week here at Karasuno, I have my duties as a full time manager for my basketball team at Seirin. It is my responsibility to be there for them when they require my assistance-...”

“What about your responsibility to us!?” Kageyama suddenly snaps, raising his voice at her. It seems especially sharp as it cuts through the tranquil morning, overpowering only the soft chirping of birds and rustling of leaves.

She blinks, shocked by his sudden change in attitude. Kageyama's eyes widen in realization, about to apologize for yelling at her-- [Name] beats him to the punch. “Do you think you guys are my only friends? That basketball team consists of the only people I consider family here in Japan. I am more than willing to accept the Karasuno volleyball team into that same family, but only if you’re willing to support me through all my decisions, just as I support you and all that you do, Kags. Is that so much to ask for?”

The phenomenal setter is speechless as he soaks in the professional libero's explanation, unsure of how to respond to her once she’s finished, guilt overwhelming him for being so selfish. “I-I…”

Her smile is warmer than ever, making him feel even more flustered and confused. “No need to apologize, Kags. I understand. I’ll miss you guys, too.”

Furrowing his brows, he stubbornly looks away, too embarrassed to look her in the eye when he quietly asks, “Will we ever see you again?”

And he doesn't turn to look at her as he anxiously awaits her reply, only to receive melodic laughter instead of words. Eyes wide once again, he gazes at her, face feeling warm as he watches her laugh. “Why wouldn’t you? There’s no way I’m letting such a talented group of boys like you lot slip through my fingers. Call me selfish, I don’t care. I wouldn’t abandon you guys for the world.”

Kageyama suddenly freezes as [Name] moves to brush past him, his heart rate slowing dramatically. It's only once he realizes she’s headed towards the parking lot that he snaps out of his trance. Without giving himself a second to think, he spins around on the heel of his half-tied shoe and grabs her jacket sleeve, preventing her from leaving with wide eyes.

She looks at him, obviously waiting for him to say something, but it takes Kageyama several moments to even gather up the courage to say just two words. “T-Thank you…”

[Name] arches a brow. “For what?”

He drops her sleeve. “For understanding…”

Luckily, she seems to understand what he means by that immediately, her smile sweet as she gazes at him with eyes full of hospitality. “Anytime. Take care, Kageyama Tobio…”

With that being said, he stands still as a statue and watches [Name] walk off, unable to say anything in return. His face lacks any expression at all, lips pulled into an emotionless frown as the breeze teases his dark tresses. It isn’t until she disappears around the corner that his shoulders heave a sigh of relief. He hadn't realized how tense he was while speaking to her until she was finally gone. 

No longer feeling up for a morning run, Kageyama turns and heads back inside, shaking off his jacket as he does so. As he turns to head back to the room that the boys are all still sleeping in, he stops beside [Name]'s bedroom door, his curiosity peaking when I see it’s ajar. Biting his lip, Kageyama places a flat hand on its surface and heads inside. It’s empty, now, bed made and the curtains drawn open. The sun is nearly all the way above the horizon, by now, casting its glow onto the sheets of the neatly made bed in the corner. The only thing left in the room is a singular black bag with a note on top of it.

Kneeling down, Kageyama grabs the small square of paper and reads over her neat handwriting:

‘ Here’s all the notes and playbooks I’ve put together for you guys. Hope you can find them useful. 

Good luck on your practice match! And the I-H preliminaries! I’ll be thinking about Karasuno as Seirin competes in our own final league match next week!

Call me if you ever need anything. Or if you just want to chat. If you ever need help with homework. If you feel like making fun of me . . .

Literally call me for anything because I miss you damn dorks already.

\- [Name] :) ‘

Kageyama's frown deepens ever so slightly as he looks into the bag, gawking at the sheer number of binders and notebooks inside. Each one has a player name on it. One binder full of notes specifically designed for every one of them!? [Name] really wasn’t messing around this whole week, was she? Did she even sleep? How else could she have had the time to put this all together?

With wide eyes, he retrieves the one with his name written on it, baffled by all of the sketches of him in his different positions and forms, different notes scrawled around it in her English lettering, along with Japanese translations for those who struggle with her native dialect. Kageyama being one of them. He shocks himself when he smiles subtly at the stupid jokes she’s included in the pages, most likely with the intent in mind that he’d be seeing them on his own time in the future. And here he is, laughing at them in solitude, as she probably predicted he would.

One random scrawling in her neat yet rushed handwriting catches his eye, however. Kageyama glances over it, heat crawling to his face once he can finally recognize the quote, seeing as he had said it to Hinata the day before Golden Week started. The day the team had been introduced to [Last Name][Name] for the first time.

‘As long as I’m around, you’re invincible.’

"Kageyama...?" the setter quickly closes the binder as he glances at the doorframe behind him, acknowledging the person who addresses him. "What're you doing in here? Why's [Last Name]-san's door wide open like this?"

"She left," is all that Kageyama can explain to his captain, gesturing towards the bag full of binders before him.

"O-Oh..."

Daichi's expression spoils as his voice cracks, eyes wide as he briskly walks into the room and crouches down before the bag, eyes glazing down the note she had left. Kageyama can't quite hear what Daichi mutters under his breath, his brows furrowed over his dark brown eyes. The setter drowns out the third-year's voice as he continues to marvel over the sketches in the binder propped open in his lap. Daichi sifts through the bag to find his own binder when he sees Kageyama's bittersweet smile, despite how subtly it had played his lips. As the dependable captain looks through his, he can understand why the ravenette is coming off a bit softer than usual. Daichi blushes at the detailed drawings of him, a couple stripping him of his clothing to point out detailed notes on his toned body and joints.

Kageyama looks up, the image of [Name]'s mischievous glare at him after she had dug that straight he hit during their receiving drill on the first day returns to his mind; it was as if she had been taunting him to test her again, and he couldn't bring himself to. He shakes his head.

What a damn idiot, leaving so suddenly like that.

Idiot…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayo. School is extra hard as of late, so here's a lil update that was birthed from my own procrastination. I tried to include a couple moments with different characters in this one, so it's nothing serious. Just a small chapter lacking plot that is meant for pure enjoyment.
> 
> My apologies in advance for all the people who really want to read about Haikyuu. I know that the volleyball boys are probably more popular among readers than KnB is, but we are going to be returning to basketball for a couple more chapters. The first Touou match is a pretty monumental game in the show, so it may take a couple chapters. However, I've already planned a swift return to Karasuno soon after, which should last for awhile if I've mapped out my writing correctly. So you'll get lots more time with the volleyball dorks again! And you'll get to meet a couple more, too ;)
> 
> One last thing! Those of you guys who have been showing your support... Thank you so much! I'm not being sarcastic; I know my writing comes off that way a lot. But seriously-- this is my first time ever publicizing my writing. I've always been embarrassed by it. And the stuff I write for this site is nowhere near my best work, but it's still fun to do. And as someone who's extremely new to fan fiction, having people who are supporting me --even if it's just a couple of you commenting on and liking my updates every once in awhile-- is extremely comforting. And 1,200+ reads?? Fuck. Thank you all :)
> 
> In any case, good night and stay safe. I have essays to finish and I've wasted enough time ignoring them :)


	12. Touou

After coming back to Seirin after running off with volleyball boys for an entire week, I thankfully received minimal scolding.

“I’ve been thinking…” the team turns to look at Koganei as he holds up his copy of the tournament roster. “We’ve beat two teams with miracles on them already, haven’t we? Do you think we could make it all the way this year!?”

Before he can get too excited, Izuki smacks Koga over the head. “Oi, don’t jinx it, idiot!”

“Don’t just go saying stuff like that!” Hyuga adds, clutching his copy tightly.

But Koganei only continues to spark the flame. “Even if we lose to Aomine and Momoi-...”

This time, I’m the one to shut him up by kicking him over from behind, sighing as he faceplants the gym floors. Riko sighs as I look at her. “Aomine and Momoi go to Touou Academy…”

“Wait, WHAT!?” the entire team, save Riko, Kuroko, and myself exclaim in unison. 

“I thought all the Generation of Miracles went to well-known schools!” Koga adds hysterically.

“No offense, but Tetsu-chan didn’t. What’s going to stop Aomine?” I answer, folding my arms and swinging my weight to one side. “While it’s true that Touou’s history isn’t all that impressive, they’ve been putting a lot of time and improvement into their scouting efforts, recently. According to my digging, they’ve found some success in recruiting promising athletes from all over the country. In the past few years, their team has shown a rapid gain in power. After doing some research on their team, I can confidently say that their starting lineup this year is comparable to Shutoku’s in skill, if not better.”

“I don’t believe it…” Fukuda breathes, looking down at the paper in his hand.

“Oi!” I turn all of a sudden when Riko jumps from her position, shoving Koga out of the way and tossing her clipboard at him as she marches forward, her eyes locked on the legs of her target. I silently pray to a god that I don’t believe in for his safety after seeing the look on her face. “Kagami-kun. Have you been playing ball?”

Said redhead’s eyes widen. “N-No.”

“You have noticeably regressed,” she then glances at me coldly, in which I shrink back and duck behind Mitobe for safety. She decides to ignore me for now and focuses on Kagami instead, grabbing him by the hair and forcing him to kneel on the ground before her. “YOU IDIOT!”

“AH! SORRY! SORRY!” he begs for forgiveness as Riko rips him a new one.

“HOW MANY TIMES DID I TELL YOU!? NO BASKETBALL UNTIL YOU’VE RECOVERED! ARE YOUR EARS FUNCTIONAL OR ARE THEY JUST FOR SHOW!?”

“Now, now, Coach,” Hyuga sighs, gently pulling the fuming second year off of Kagami with a hand on her shoulder. “So, who are we going to be playing first?”

Already fired up, she turns to him and yells, “Against Touou Academy!”

And just like that, the entire team erupts into absolute silence, the sound of the breeze blowing through the grass outside audible to my ears. None of them could believe it, I imagine. I hardly can. 

Do I possibly have enough time to whip this team into shape? Good enough against a challenger like Aomine?

After practice is over, Kuroko, Kagami, and I set out for our normal hangout. Maji Burger is a place that all three of us ran into each other when I had first joined the team. We’ve bonded there, and continue to visit it with one another after the occasional practice. As we walk along the sidewalks dressed in our school uniforms, streetlamps on as the sun just barely begins to set, Kagami breaks our comfortable silence.

“I played Aomine.”

I stop dead in my tracks, glaring icy daggers into the back of his head as he continues walking a few more paces before stopping as well. However, he ignores me, and instead peers down at Kuroko.

“He said that he used to be your light,” he continues somewhat grimly. 

That’s when I pounce on the redhead, clinging onto his back as I ruffle his hair. “THE HELL, TAIGA!? I TOLD YOU NOT TO PLAY HIM! RIKO’S BEEN BREATHING DOWN MY NECK ALL DAY THANKS TO YOU!”

“GET OFF, IDIOT! SHE’S PROBABLY ON YOUR ASS FOR DISAPPEARING TO PLAY VOLLEYBALL FOR A WEEK MORE THAN BECAUSE OF ME, DUMBASS!”

“WHY YOU-...”

“Calm down, [Nickname]-chan,” Kuroko sighs, tugging on my uniform sleeve, lightly pulling me off of Kagami. “We’re here. Let’s just get something to eat and talk about it then, yeah?”

So we do. Kagami orders his mountain of burgers as Kuroko and I both get a large vanilla milkshake each while sharing an order of large fries. That’s when the bluette began to explain. “Yes, Aomine-kun is considered to be my light before you, Kagami-kun. Seeing as you’ve met him already, you probably thought of him as somewhat of a jerk; I’m confident he said some pretty lewd stuff about [Name]-chan, yeah?”

Furrowing my brows in confusion, I shake my head. “No, he didn’t-...”

“Yeah, he did,” Kagami sternly interrupts me, sending me a scornful look that shut me up right away.

“Well, he wasn’t always like that,” Kuroko adds with a sigh. “Aomine-kun loved basketball more than any of us on the Generation of Miracles ever could. He grew up with it as if it were second nature. He bloomed sooner and more suddenly than the rest of us. Until one day, he began to skip practices, and when I approached him about it, he was an entirely different person. He no longer wanted to get any better, because the harder he tried, the more boring it got to play basketball. He desired a rival that can stand as his equal; however, he is too strong, and believes it’s impossible at this point to find anyone. No matter how hard I tried to convince him that there’d be someone out there for him --a true challenger-- it only got worse. He eventually started missing games, too, not even bothering to come up with excuses as to why he wasn’t there anymore. He played for our final championship, and we swept through the tournament that year, thanks to Aomine-kun’s strength. But he’s given up…”

“The Curse of the Extraordinary,” Kagami breathes, glancing at me. “That’s what you called it, yes?”

I nod, sipping my shake. “Indeed. Aomine’s not the only one to have experienced such a dreadful feeling of hopelessness.”

Kuroko arches a brow in confusion, but Kagami narrows his eyes at me. “You’ve felt it, too.”

I nearly choke on my drink at Kagami’s words, wiping my mouth as a drop of shake lingers on my lips. “Don’t go around saying things like that about me, Taiga. It was an embarrassing stage of my life that I don’t want flaunted-...”

“Cut the shit, [Name],” Kagami rolls his eyes, leaning back and crumpling up one of his burger wrappers. “You need to stop lying to yourself. I saw it in your eyes the other day, after you played Aomine. Ever since I’ve known you, never once have I seen you more excited than the way you looked at that moment. It was because he gave you a bit of hope, wasn’t it?”

“Y-You played Aomine, [Nickname]-chan?” Kuroko looks at me, eyes somewhat wide. “Tell me, did you beat him?”

Slowly, I shake my head, and Kuroko’s shoulders slump. However, Kagami speaks up before I can even open my mouth again. “Not like she was trying to, anyway.”

The bluette’s eyes are once again blank, no longer sparkling with a glimmer of hope as he looks at me. “I see. You didn’t want him to get over this ‘Curse of the Extraordinary’, as you called it, just yet ...”

“I-It’s not like that, Tetsu-chan,” I sigh, putting a hand overtop of his on the table. “In order to get the important information I needed for our match against Touou, I needed to let him beat me. I never would’ve gotten the data I did if I hadn’t.”

“Right…” the bluette nods, still a bit bummed out that I didn’t use my ball skills to fix up his friend for him; but I know deep down, he has to understand.

“Get over yourself, Kuroko. We don’t need [Name] to do our dirty work for us,” Kagami grumbles, setting down another burger wrapper and holding up two fists over the table, extending one to either of us. “Let’s go beat Aomine and wake his ass up ourselves.”

Glancing to my right, I notice Kuroko’s eyes widen, that shimmer of hope back, but also something else. A flash of recognition, maybe…? Whatever it is, he gets over it quickly, lifting his right hand up and fist bumping Kagami with a small smile. And so, I follow suit, gently brushing my knuckles against the redhead’s with a grin.

“You guys are the best.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“A lot more people turn up for the championship league,” Takao whistles, looking around at the giant crowd around swarming into the gymnasium around him along with himself and his teammates from Shutoku.

“Say, where’s Midorima, Takao?” Miyaji asks, looking around for the sharp shooter.

Sighing, Takao pulls his cell out of his pocket and opens it up to a certain message, from Midorima, reading ‘I don’t want to’. “I told him he should come and this is what he responded with. So cruel!”

“Hm. Hey, looks like you have another message from an unknown user. You should probably make sure they aren’t someone you should block,” Miyaji suggests, pointing at the little notification at the top of the screen.

“Eh? Unknown?” Takao opens it up, quickly skimming over the message he’d received. 

‘Kazu! It’s [Name]! I wanted to know if you’d be attending the championship match between Seirin and Touou tonight? If so, tell me where you are. I’d love to come find you and return your jacket. I feel guilty for holding onto it for so long :(’. 

Eyes wide after finishing the message, Takao is about to respond with something witty and flirtatious when a sudden gasp reaches his ears. Looking up, he sees none other than [Name] grinning at him, pushing her way through the crowd to reach him. 

“Kazu-chan!” she cheers, flinging herself onto him.

“[N-Name]-chan!” he responds back, holding her up in order to keep her from knocking him over with the force of her embrace. He notes that she’s wearing the Seirin uniform, seeing as it’s a Friday night. She wears it differently than the Seirin coach does, however. Instead of the dark blue pullover Riko wears, [Name] flaunts the light yellow sweater with the white scarf and skirt instead. Her and Riko both choose not to wear thigh highs. “I just got your message!”

“What a coincidence!” she giggles, backing off of him and reaching into her bag. The rest of Shutoku watches with confusion and awe as she pulls out Takao’s jacket, handing it to him with the brightest of smiles. “Here you go! I couldn’t possibly hold onto it for any longer!”

“Really, it’s no big deal,” he chuckles, taking it back gingerly.

“Well, in any case, I’m glad to see your number worked. I was scared you’d given me a fake one before leaving the other night, knowing how badly I wanted to meet up with you again,” she pouts cutely, her choice of words without context making the rest of the Shutoku guys blush. They look back and forth between her and the jacket Takao holds several times, the heat in their faces only exemplifying. 

“Oh, I could never. Not after everything that happened with you,” Takao adds, making the situation even worse. “I was hoping you’d call me up again sooner or later so that maybe we could do it again?”

“That sounds wonderful!” she agrees with a nod before looking around. “Say, where’s Mido-kun? I texted him, too, but he never responded.”

Takao shrugs. “Meh, he says he’s got better things to do, whatever that may be.”

[Name]’s shoulders slump. “That’s a shame. I wanted to say hello. Well, anyway, I really should be getting back down to the court. The guys are warming up and I’m supposed to be assisting them. It was nice seeing you again, Kazu-chan! Oh, and you guys, too! Thank you all for coming to watch, it means a lot!”

“Bye, [Nickname]-chan!” Takao waves as she bustles back off, disappearing among the rest of the crowd. 

“....TAKAO!”

He jumps, wincing at the volume of Otsubo’s exclamation as said captain grips his shoulders tightly, a deadly aura creeping off of the third-year. “What!?”

“Don’t you dare tell me that you did what I think you did with Seirin’s manager!”

“[Name]-san?” Takao glances back at where the girl had stood just a moment ago, arching a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you start playing your dumb little games on me now, Takao! You aren’t getting away with that innocent facade, this time!” Otsubo continues, red in the face. “You spent a night together, exchanged numbers, and she ends up returning your forgotten clothes!?”

Takao’s eyes widen when he finally catches on to what the rest of his team led themselves to believe. After a moment, he smirks, deciding to take the opportunity and run with it for as long as he possibly can. “Perhaps I did. It was a really fun time, too.”

He takes a pause for effect, smirking wider as the entire team’s faces implode into a flush of red at his words. He then continues. “Yeah, and by the end of the night, we’re already on a first name basis. You heard her, she calls me Kazu-chan, isn’t she the cutest? Oh, but don’t let her trick you; when she’s in the mood, she gets what she wants no matter what.”

Internally, Takao’s wheezing at the mess he had just created of his fellow teammates, who now have to clamp their hands over their faces in order to prevent a bloody nose. He decides to end their suffering with one last comment. “From what I’ve heard, she’s really really good, too-…”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Otsubo yells, not letting him go any further. He hated the thought of degrading that girl’s innocence. He could feel it radiating off of her the moment he first laid eyes on her back at their game against Seirin. He didn’t want to be wrong about her. “We don’t need to hear any more about her-... h-her….”

“Her what?” Takao urges with a smirk.

“Don’t make me say it! You don’t need to explain how good she is at it, just-...”

He arches his brow. “Why wouldn’t you guys want to hear about how good [Name]-san is at basketball? She’s, like, famous for it over in America.”

Otsubo’s and the rest of the team’s eyes widen. “B-Basketball…?”

“Yeah, what else did you think I was talking about?” he smiles, successfully playing off his innocence. “Kasamatsu Yukio was telling me about her the other day when Shin and I ran into him and Kise Ryouta eating out at a restaurant with the entire Seirin team. She’s famous for basketball, so I assume she must be really good. And it was raining when Shin-chan and I left, so when she ran outside and asked us both for our numbers so that we could meet up and play ball sometime, I lent her my jacket to keep her dry. She just now returned it.”

“Y-You…” Otsubo’s eye twitches in anger, face still red after having jumped to such conclusions before.

That’s when Takao decides to risk his life in just one phrase before sprinting into the crowd in order to try and save himself. “But, based on everything I hear about her skills on the court, I bet she’d be an absolute freak in the sack.”

“WHY YOU LITTLE-... TAKAO, GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!”

Meanwhile, in Touou’s locker rooms, Momoi’s strained cry can be heard from the hallway outside. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN AOMINE’S NOT HERE YET!?”

Imayoshi Shoichi, the Touou third-year captain, holds his cell phone towards her, a hand on his hip. “He won’t answer, no matter how many times I call.”

All of the sudden, Sakurai Ryo begins bowing apologetically at back breaking speed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It must be my fault!”

As Wakamatsu plants his face into his hands in exasperation, Momoi hastily whips out her own cell phone from her uniform pocket, dialing Aomine’s number and raising it up to her ear. “Damn it, I’ll try calling him! ...Answer, damn it!”

After a couple of rings, someone picks up on the other line. “Satsuki…?”

Said pinkette stomps her foot. “DAI-CHAN! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!”

The bluette groans, moving his phone a good distance away from his ear until Momoi could stop screeching. “Ah, sorry. I must’ve slept in.”

He awaits for another barrage of screaming as he sits up and stretches, finding himself on the roof of the school, where he had skipped his classes and napped instead, having used his school bag as a pillow. “YOU OVERSLEPT!?”

Imayoshi immediately takes the phone from her after that. “Aomine. How long until you can get here?”

Aomine rubs his eyes, looking at the setting sun on the horizon. “Shouldn’t take me more than half an hour.”

“HALF AN HOUR!?” Wakamatsu retorts, yelling into the phone. “IT’LL BE HALF TIME BY THEN!”

Aomine chuckles on the other end of the line. “Oh, please. Twenty minutes in the second half will be more than enough time for me to crush those scrubs. Do whatever you can during the first half.”

“What!? HEY!”

Before he can receive another scolding, the ace ends the call, grunting as he stands up to collect all his things. 

Meanwhile, in the Seirin locker room, the atmosphere is no less grim. It’s no wonder why. Even after [Name] went over all of the strategies she had come up with for the third time since they got there, they still felt hopeless against Aomine. Maybe it was a bad idea for [Name] to have shown them his tapes in the first place…

Deciding to break the tense silence, Riko huddles them all up into a circle, leading them all to believe she’s going to hype them up with a legendary pep talk. She snaps them out of their trances with only five words, however, shouting them loud and clear.

“We will win this game!”

Eyes wide, the boys all stare at her and her enthusiasm, a spark of hope fluttering in their chests. With a wicked grin, [Name] throws a bit of her American ardor into the locker room by leading the cheer. “Seirin…”

Recognizing it, all the boys chime after, “FIGHT!”

This is the moment that leads them all out to the court, tip off in just ten minutes. As the team sets out their water bottles for [Name] to fill and towels for her to keep track of, Kagami can’t help but let his eyes wander to the opposing bench. He furrows his brows, walking over to it before anyone can notice he’s gone.

“Excuse me,” he calls out, getting Wakamatsu’s attention, who turns to face him after setting down his bag. “Where’s Aomine?”

With a scoff, the Touou player rolls his eyes. “That self-centered bastard is running late. He won’t be here until half time.”

Not only Kagami hears these words, however, but [Name] and Kuroko pick up on the conversation as well. The redhead’s eyes widen. “What the hell is that idiot thinking? That he can really beat us all in just twenty minutes on his own!?”

Before the stubborn power forward can run his idiotic mouth anymore, [Name] runs over and smacks her hand over his face, successfully shutting him up as she smiles apologetically. “My apologies for his disrespectful behavior; the idiot doesn’t know when to shut up until after he runs his mouth.”

By now, Imayoshi has joined the conversation, a kind smile gracing his lips and a hand on his hip, glasses gleaming. “No worries. Besides, we’re actually in a bind without him, too. We’re only the opening act for our ace; please go easy on us.”

At his words, [Name] lets Kagami go and narrows her eyes. “I’m rather impressed, Imayoshi Shoichi; you’re acting skills are top notch. You actually pulled off such an innocent statement. I almost fell for it.”

He arches his brow, smirking slightly. “Oh? Whatever could you mean?”

She follows up his smirk with one of her own, even more subtle than his. “You’re trying to tell me that you’re in trouble because Aomine isn’t here? Please. If anything, I’m forced to believe that you’re underestimating my abilities as a manager; seeing as you have Satsu-chan to do all of your analyzing for you, I suppose you wouldn’t understand...”

“Satsu-chan….?” he repeats the nickname, somewhat confused as to who [Name]’s referring to.

“That would be me!” said pinkette giggles cutely, a clipboard clutched to her large chest. Her eyes widen at the sight of [Name], in which she flings onto her with a tight embrace. “[Nickname]-chan! How wonderful to see you again!”

“Hello, Satsu-chan,” [Name] greets her politely, backing out of the hug rather quickly with a smirk. “I was just schooling your captain Mr. Imayoshi, here, for underestimating my capabilities as a manager and analyst, such as yourself.”

With a gasp, Momoi spins on her heel and lightly smacks Imayoshi over the head with her clipboard. “How disrespectful! Let her do her job!”

After his shockful yelp, [Name] chuckles and grabs Momoi’s arm before she can hit him again. “That won’t be necessary, Satsu-chan. In any case, I really must be getting back to my bench. Tip off is in just a few moments. And to answer your question, Mr. Imayoshi: I won’t be letting my boys go easy on you.”

With that being said, the Seirin manager spins on her heel and struts off with a smirk, [H/C] hair bouncing behind her with each step. Takao watches her from up in the stands with awe, glancing back and forth between her and the Touou bench. He sits back and folds his arms. “Damn. Whatever she said must’ve really set them off, huh…?”

“Listen up,” [Name] huddles the starters up around herself in the center. “What Imayoshi said before isn’t entirely untruthful. Compared to Aomine, all of their individual talents combined are indeed just the opening act. Aomine outshines every single one of them in that aspect. However, do not underestimate them. Every single one of their starters is phenomenal at their position, and they will spare us no mercy. I advise you to show them the same treatment. It will be a struggle, but you will need to pull as far ahead in this first half as you possibly can. It will by no means necessary be easy. However, you must prove to Aomine that it was the biggest mistake of his life to show up late for this game; we must show Touou how Seirin’s basketball team can fight!”

“Seirin...” they all shout in unison as the whistle for tip off sounds. “FIGHT!”

Walking onto the court, Kuroko nudges Kagami, who’s steaming out the ears in anger. “We should do as [Name]-chan says and score as many points as we possibly can in the first half. To do that, we must focus on the current opponents before us; there’s no point in being angry at someone who isn’t here. The opponent in front of you now should be the only thing you think about in this moment. Remember that, Kagami-kun.”

He growls softly, but nods at Kuroko’s arguable point. “Right. Let’s get them from the start.”

Kagami indeed wins tip off, as he promised, bumping it towards Izuki. As the point guard reaches out to accept the ball, however, Touou’s own point guard intercepts it in the blink of an eye. Izuki gawks at Imayoshi’s speed, chasing after him down the court. As Hyuga dives in front of him to guard, Imayoshi smirks, passing the ball to his right, where Sakurai Ryo, their shooting guard, stands wide open.

“Sorry!” he yelps suddenly, confusing Seirin thoroughly as he makes a swift jump shot, scoring the first three points of the game.

[Name] hums into her fingers as she leans against her palm, eyes narrowing at the speed and rhythm of Touou’s team. It’s not like she hadn’t prepared for it; she expected them to be as good as the display they just put on for her. Seirin’s lineup just needed to realize that, too. This would be a good eye-opener for them. For them to wake up and kick it into high gear.

Hyuga huffs, setting a hand on his hip as he faces an innocently smiling Imayoshi. “Calling yourselves the opening act was evil.”

[Name] can’t help but snort as he begins skipping innocently. “Hm? I wasn’t kidding. You’ll see once Aomine gets here. We’re all just cute little kids compared to him. We may only be the opening act for Aomine, but we’re still leagues better than you.”

At that, however, [Name] furrows her brows, snarling under her breath so that no one can hear her but herself. “But your team is rubbish when it comes to teamwork.”

Back and forth, scoring points for either team is a bit of a struggle. Four minutes in, Touou pulls ahead with a 10-4 lead. Kagami growls under his breath as he loses a rebound to Wakamatsu, noticing the lack of companionship as well. Their care for their teammates is minimal and their coordination is nonexistent. [Name]’s eyes narrow. She knows how this team functions. The school handpicked players from all over the country to play for their school. Each one of them is individually skilled with a strong sense of self; they don’t rely on teamwork, and they like it that way.

It makes her sick.

Izuki notices her foul mood as he takes the ball up the court, immediately marked by a smug Imayoshi. He furrows his brows. “We may both be offensive teams, but our playstyles are completely different. Here at Seirin, our style is full team play.”

As Izuki moves to pass the ball overhead in Hyuga’s direction, Imayoshi immediately jumps to block it. However, the fake is too clean. Without even turning his head to look in Mitobe’s direction, Izuki tosses him the ball. Mitobe then connects the pass back to the original target, Hyuga.

“Forget one-on-one’s,” he whispers, jumping up and shooting the three before Sakurai can block him. “I don’t plan on losing this game.”

Kise sighs as he walks into the stadium alone, smiling sadly when he looks at the scoreboard. “I’m late again, and they’re behind again. Huh? Midorimacchi?”

The model peers at the recognizable mop of green hair standing rather than sitting, keeping himself isolated from anyone else in the stadium. He walks over to the tall male’s side, arching a brow at the sun glasses he wears rather than his regular specs. 

“K-Kise!?” Midorima nearly drops his lucky item in surprise, a jack-in-the-box.

Kise chuckles, shrugging. “Man, those sunglasses sure are embarrassing. Take them off. Anyway, how’s the game?”

With a sigh, Midorima replaces his disguise with his regular glasses. “Nothing special. Honestly, it’s rather ridiculous. Aomine doesn’t seem to be present, and Seirin can barely keep up. Touou has Momoi, as well. You as well as me know that she’s more than just a manager.”

Kise folds his arms. “That’s true, she did help us out a lot in middle school with her analytics. Now, no disrespect to her and what she does, but… Do you really think she can even compare to [Name]cchi?”

Midorima side eyes the blond. “There’s no way for me to tell. I haven’t experienced [Name] in action.”

“Woah! Midorimacchi! You two are on a first name basis!?”

He scoffs. “I-It’s not like that, nanodayo. She asked me to refer to her as that.”

Kise chuckles, amused by the fact he made Midorima flustered. “Relax, I already figured that much. She’s American; she prefers to be called by her first name. In any case, you may not have seen her in action, but I have.”

Midorima arches a brow at him. “You’ve seen her analytics?”

“No,” Kise smirkes, shaking his head. “I’ve seen her play.”

“Play? Basketball?”

The copycat nods. “I’ve never seen anyone like her. Her speed, her agility, her precision. From everything I’ve seen, I can honestly say that she’d probably beat Aominecchi in a one-on-one pretty easily. She schooled five decent guys on the streetball court in the park not too long ago, and Kurokocchi even grueled on her for going easy on them.”

Midorima’s eyes are wide as he turns his attention back down to [Name], sitting on the bench and focusing thoroughly. “Beat Aomine one-on-one? I didn’t think that was possible…”

“That’s what I thought too, but seeing her play…” Kise smiles. “There’s hope for him finding that rival he so desperately desires, after all…”

The greenette gawks at her in silence, for a moment, before snapping out of it, shaking his head. “That means nothing. Momoi is shit at basketball, but her analytical skills are nothing to glance over. [Name]’s talent at playing the sport doesn’t help her in this situation.”

Kise frowns, before pointing at said girl. “There. You see that?”

Midorima follows his gaze, landing upon [Name] as she stands from her bench. “What about her?”

“Her eyes!” Kise adds, keeping his voice low, as if telling a secret.

Indeed, as he had noticed many times before, Midorima watches her eyes shift back and forth from [E/C] to gold. He adjusts his glasses. “Yes, I’ve seen her eyes change color before, nanodayo. Why do they matter?”

The model wiggles his brow mockingly. “Don’t you wanna know what she’s doing?”

Midorima gives in, letting the blond know his interest has peaked. “I’m listening.”

“Kurokocchi told me about it the other day. Apparently, when her eyes turn gold like that, she can scan your physical attributes, strengths, weaknesses, and even predict your movements, kinda like Akashicchi,” Kise explains softly. “That way, she can learn every team’s tells and habits by watching them play. Based off of that data she collects, she can formulate plays and strategies best to work against the opposing team, increasing the likelihood for a Seirin win. She even does it during games, so that she can make up any changes she can at the top of her head whenever she deems necessary.”

Once again, Midorima stares at the girl in awe. That’s how she was able to figure out Takao’s hawk eye during their match against Seirin. “I have to admit… that’s rather extraordinary…”

Kise grabs his arm, jumping up and down like a small child excited to go to the park. “I know! And that’s not even the best part!”

Midorima sighs, brushing Kise off of him. “What more could she possibly be able to do, Kise? She’s just one person.”

The blond bites his lip to keep himself from yelling; he just can’t help but love the feeling of flaunting [Name]’s abilities to everyone he can. It makes him feel honored to be friends with such a person. “Well, Kurokocchi has reason to believe that her abilities to analyze people with her eyes is not her only power.”

“What other powers does he think she has?” the greenette arches a brow.

“See, that’s where he came up blank,” Kise sighs. “Kurokocchi said he didn’t know when I asked him the same question, but he’s pretty determined to find out.”

“Then how does he even know she has multiple abilities in the first place?”

Kise smiles. “Well, he told me that when [Name]cchi had explained her eyes to him, she said something along the lines of ‘it’s the ability she uses most often, seeing as it’s the least mentally draining’... And when he asked her about it himself, she never confirmed it, but she didn’t really deny it, either.”

Midorima raises a finger to his chin as he longingly stares down at the girl he’s currently conversing about. “Wording it like that, she does imply that she’s got more tricks up her sleeve; most likely abilities that are more ‘mentally draining’, as she says. What could she possibly be hiding…?”

“I don’t know!” Kise squeals, jumping up and down giddily. “But doesn’t it just make you feel so excited to try and find out!?”

Meanwhile, said Seirin manager leans against her palm on the bench, mentally cheering when Izuki steals a pass with those pretty eyes of his. He takes it around Sakurai, heaving it in Kagami’s direction. The pass lands, Kagami catching it at his chest, shielding it from Susa’s reach, the third-year Touou short forward. He seethes softly when he notices how deep they’re guarding.

“Idiots,” he mumbles, jumping and shooting what looks to be a three.

“A three?” Kise breathes in disbelief. “No, it has to be another one of his one man alley-oops!”

Suddenly, [Name] jumps from her seat on the bench, throwing her laptop aside. “No!”

Momoi giggles, raising her clipboard up to hide her smile. “Yes. I thought you might want to try that, Kagami-kun. Boys are always so predictable…”

Just as she mutters that, Susa boxes Kagami out, not letting him enter the paint to tip the ball into the bucket once it misses. In fact, he never even jumped to try and block the shot; Momoi had advised him against doing that if Kagami tried it during a game. [Name] glares at her, but she can’t even be mad. Momoi wouldn’t be a very capable manager if she hadn’t been aware of Kagami’s low shooting rate from the outside.

Riko furrows her brows as [Name] moves to stand at the edge of the court when Sakurai receives the rebound. The coach winces. “I see. We must have been researched; Momoi was Teiko’s manager previously, and she knows how to gather information on all of her opponents and use it to prepare her team to prevent the opposing team from using habitual strategies. She’s an intelligence agent of her own kind.”

The players on the bench gawk at the pinkette standing beside the coach of Touou. “Wow…. Is she better at it than [Name]-san…?”

The American stiffens subtly at Kawahara’s words, which he hadn’t meant for her to hear. Out of absolute fear, the first years cower on the bench, glaring at Kawahara for even speaking his mind. However, Kuroko had been standing the closest out of everyone on the court, and he glances at them on the bench, his expression bleak.

“Momoi-san’s skill, while formidable, pales in comparison to [Name]-chan’s.”

As he runs off, [Name]’s eyes widen slightly, and the dangerous aura that had been dancing around her like tantalizing flames replenishes, her lips slightly parted as Kuroko runs back off to assist his team in the game. The corner of her mouth twitches, the subtlest of smug smiles gracing her features as she continues to watch the game. And with Kuroko being the only one present to have experienced the skills of both managers, everyone has no choice but to accept his judgement, leaving it at that.

That makes no less of Momoi’s abilities, however. As Mitobe gains control of the ball, guarded by Wakamatsu, Momoi narrows her eyes at him. “Mitobe Rinnosuke; a hard worker who doesn’t take risks. When his opponent is taller than him, he doesn’t try to force his way under the net. Against Wakamatsu, it will most likely be…”

“A hookshot!” the blond jumps up and tips the ball out of Mitobe’s grasp once it’s behind his head. 

Tsuchida winces. “Coach, we’ve gotta do something! She knows all our moves.”

Riko only smiles, shaking her head. “No. We keep playing as we are.”

“What?” Koga gazes at her, confused.

“No matter how accurate Momoi’s information is, it’s from the past,” Riko explains. “Humans develop and improve. Don’t act like you don’t understand… Take Hyuga, for example; ever since the Shutoku game, he’s been working nonstop to improve his dribbling speed instead of always going for three pointers. There’s no way for Momoi to know that.”

“It’s no use, Riko-chan,” [Name] whispers, clutching her clipboard closer to her chest when Hyuga gains possession of the ball, marked by Sakurai. As said captain fakes going for a three and instead moves to drive in on his left, Sakurai is already right back on him, not letting him past.

Momoi giggles, writing something down on her clipboard. “I thought you might do that. Call it a woman’s intuition.”

[Name] shakes her head. “You guys really don’t think that a manager’s only job is to collect past data and pass out water bottles, do you? Not only do we thoroughly research our opponents, but we analyze the data we collect and even read it to predict how each opponent will adapt and grow. That’s how you can tell whether a manager is capable or not.”

“Izuki Shun; composed point guard with an eagle eye; however, seeing as he’s capable of seeing so much, he can sometimes get stuck, unable to perform actions for himself,” Momoi smirks as Imayoshi marks said player, who holds the ball to the very last second.

“However…” [Name] smirks, tucking some hair behind her ear as she glances at the overconfident pinkette. She raises her voice so that she can hear her. “I didn’t expect such a capable analyst to be so naive. Whether she likes it or not, her players on the court have no way of seeing everything that comes next. They don’t have her ‘women's intuition’, as she calls it. And with a certain someone, neither does she.”

Izuki tosses the ball to Hyuga, still marked by Sakurai. As said shooting guard moves to block Hyuga from driving past him, his eyes widen when he runs into a sturdy chest behind him. Kuroko’s weak screen allows Hyuga to break through, dribbling into the paint. This forces Susa off of Kagami, who runs to the net. As he jumps to block what he expects to be a jumpshot, according to Momoi’s data, Hyuga bounces the pass underneath Susa’s legs, the ball finding its way to Kagami’s grasp. The redhead back slams the ball into the basket for an easy two points, the score reading 21-15 in Touou’s favor still, two minutes left in the first quarter.

Momoi’s eyes widen as she stares longingly at Kuroko. “Sheesh... I can never read him.”

“Damn, this isn’t going to be easy…” Harasawa Katsunori, the Touou coach, sighs, his arms folded.

Riko sends the boys back in at the beginning of the second quarter with a confident grin on her face and her hands placed firmly on her hips. Izuki starts off with the ball, smirking in response to Imayoshi’s permanent smug smile. He doesn’t even have to glance to the right to see Kuroko running in, his eagle eyes gleaming. He tosses the ball blindly over the Touou captain’s shoulder, reaching Kuroko perfectly.

The Touou point guard raises a brow, his smirk growing as Kuroko hurls it towards the basket, where Kagami jumps to receive it. “Already? It’s just like Momoi-san said. This is too easy!”

[Name] shakes her head, still standing with a knowing smile on her face. “Please, spare me. There’s relatively no data on Taiga as it is, seeing as he’s been in America. And to add onto that, there’s even less information on how he and Tetsu-chan work together, no matter how much footage she watches from our previous tournament matches.”

Momoi, unaware of [Name]’s smug words, smirks as Kagami goes for an alley-oop. “Yes, yes, that was quite predictable. I’ve already prepared a defensive strategy against that.”

Wakamatsu and Susa, Touou’s tallest players, make a two man wall, jumping to defend against Kagami’s dunk. [Name]’s smirk grows to a grin. “And I thought you might try something like that, Satsu-chan… You won’t be able to stop him, even if you know what’s coming.”

As Kagami sails gracefully through the air, Wakamatsu and Susa already begin their descent back down towards the floor, having already reached the pinnacle of their jump. The redhead easily slams the ball through the hoop, gripping onto it with his right hand for a second before hopping down, breathing heavily out of pure exhilaration. Momoi gets over her panic quickly, however, when she sees [Name]’s eyes lingering on Kagami’s calves, flashing gold. She’s aware he hasn’t fully healed, yet… especially after Aomine had done as she said and gotten Kagami to compete in a one-on-one with him behind [Name]’s back, prolonging his injury. Though, she didn’t tell Aomine about the last bit, seeing as the bluette thought she just wanted him to play Kagami one-on-one to get a good feel for his playstyle.

“Riko-chan, I have an emergency,” [Name] spins on her heel, eyes still gold. “I need Koga-senpai to switch out Taiga immediately.”

Predicting [Name]’s intentions, Riko glances at Kagami as he runs down the court, gasping softly before giving the manager a firm nod. “Excuse me? Seirin member change, please?”

“Kagami-kun, switch!” Koga runs on court, patting Kagami’s shoulder when he notices his brows furrow. “I would go back and behave, if I were you. They both noticed.”

Indeed, Kagami turns to see both Riko’s and [Name]’s intense stares in his direction. With a quiet gasp and a small gulp, he jogs off to the bench. Much to the crowd’s disappointment, for they had been enjoying Kagami’s display of utmost talent on the court. Once he sits on the bench, Riko turns to him with a hand on her hip.

“Your injuries haven’t fully healed yet, have they?” she asks sternly.

He’s unable to meet either her or [Name] in the eye. “N-No.”

“Take off your shoes,” the latter orders, kneeling at his feet, her position making him blush and close his legs subtly. “I’m going to tape up your legs.”

He seethes, hair curtaining his eyes as he leans over and begins unlacing his shoes, his head only a couple inches above [Name]’s shoulder. “Damn it! I was just getting started.”

To his surprise, her tone is gentle, her small hand patting the back of his head as she pulls it down into her shoulder in a comforting manner. “I know… But I can’t risk you getting hurt. Give me a minute, and we’ll put you back in.”

His eyes widen as he sits back up, kicking off both his sneakers. “You aren’t making me sit out the quarter this time?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” she chuckles as she begins taping his legs. “No. 7 is 6’2 and No. 6 is 6’3; to be quite honest, keeping you on the bench would mean giving our inside an overwhelming disadvantage. Though I don’t really want to send you back in, I’m afraid we stand no chance at winning if I don’t… There. That should do it.”

As [Name] finishes taping his second leg, Kagami hastily laces his sneakers back up and jogs back up to the line, forgetting to even thank his manager. She sighs with a small smile, deciding to blame it on adrenaline. 

“Switch Koganei-kun back out,” Riko tells him, sending him in with a grin. “Go get ‘em!”

“Go get ‘em, Taiga,” [Name] adds softly.

“Right!”

“That’s it, show some team spirit!” an arm snakes around his shoulders. Kagami glances to his right, eyes widening when Aomine’s smirk comes into his field of view. “I need you to entertain me, after all, even if just a little.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)
> 
> Back to basketball :p I know most of y'all are probably annoyed with it but I love these boys okay >:) I love the Haikyuu boys too but they all need time to shine. We'll get back to volleyball dorks soon enough. Also I've become aware that my update schedule is wack. Like I went from publishing a chapter every other day to every two weeks to whatever this is. Would it be helpful to make like an update schedule? Like new chapter every Sunday night or something? Or do ya'll even care lmao?
> 
> And whenever you guys comment I legit get so excited. There aren't many but I literally read all of them multiple times to hype myself up because they are always so cute. Y'all are great. Stay safe during holiday break :)


	13. Defeat

Kagami hops up from the bench and begins to jitter in place, warming up his calves and quads to head back into the fray. With wary eyes, [Name] scrutinizes the tendons on his knee cap; how they stretch and taut. They're extremely sensitive to too much pressure, which something that Kagami put on his muscles often. Especially those ones. Feeling both a bit selfish and guilty, [Name] says nothing, chewing her lip as she glances at Riko. The coach nods, noticing the same thing, and choosing to stay silent, as well. The manager nods in return as Kagami jumps up and down restlessly.

“Switch Koganei-kun back out,” Riko tells him, sending him in with a grin. “Go get ‘em!”

“Go get ‘em, Taiga,” [Name] adds softly.

“Right!”

“That’s it, show some team spirit!” an arm snakes around his shoulders. Kagami glances to his right, eyes widening when Aomine’s smirk comes into his field of view. “I need you to entertain me, after all, even if just a little.”

“You bastard, Aomine!” Kagami exclaims, knocking his arm off his shoulders.

“You’re finally here!” Imayoshi jeers from the court with an angry smirk. “Hurry up and get ready so you can play.”

“Eh, why should I?” the bluette stretches lazily before throwing an arm around [Name]’s shoulders, leaning against her lightly. “You’re already winning. I’d rather get to know[Last Name]-san over here a little better.”

“No, you have to play,” the Touou coach groans from his bench.

“Fine, fine,” Aomine yawns, smirking at [Name] before leaning closer to her ear to whisper. “You think your little boys will stand a chance against me, babe?”

She isn’t fazed in the slightest by his touch or his tone, shocking the Touou team a little bit as she slips out of Aomine’s grasp, face blank of any emotion. He arches a brow, amused by her change in behavior. This isn’t the cute and charismatic little girl he faced on the streetball court a week or two ago. She blinks once, twice, stoic as she nonchalantly states, “Well, Mr. Aomine, I guess there’s only one way for you to find out.”

Reeling back slightly at the bite behind her emotionless tone, he grins, not expecting such cock out of her; he has to admit, he rather enjoys this side of her. Therefore, he stalks over to his bench, tossing his bag to the floor and draping his jacket over Momoi’s head. With a shiteating grin towards the Seirin manager, he makes his way onto the court. “Let’s go.”

The entire Seirin bench stiffens up as he struts onto the court, smug smirk everlasting. [Name], through a forced but believable smile, attempts to lighten the mood a bit. “Be on your guard: This is Aomine Daiki. No less than everyone else here, he is human. Though we should be vigilant, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“Hey, Tetsu,” said Miracle Ace approaches his fellow bluette. “It’s good to see you again. I was wondering what face you’d make when you saw me again after so long. And I see you still aren’t making any faces at all.”

“Were you expecting some big reaction?” Kuroko plainly asks. “You’re no different than everyone else here, Aomine-kun.”

Aomine laughs. “You still have that sharp tongue. Well, just between you and me, even though you made no face before, I saw how you glared at me when I put a hand on that hot manager of yours. Tell me, Tetsu; you have a thing for chics with small tits?”

“No.”

Somewhat defeated by the lack of emotion he pulled out of him, Aomine’s smile only grows as he sighs, raking a hand through his messy hair. “In any case, I more or less understand what you’re trying to say, despite that emotionless expression of yours. I, more than anyone here, know your relentless determination. Seeing as you’ll never express how you feel with words, you might as well show me today in your play. Either way, you’ll never be able to say what you want to say to me, because you can only say it once you’ve beaten me.”

Still lacking any tell of emotion in his face, Kuroko nods. “I will beat you, Aomine-kun.”

He brushes past him. “I’ll die before either of us see that day.”

Susa starts off with the ball, passing it off to Sakurai, who immediately hands it off to Imayoshi, seeing as Hyuga had been breathing down his neck. Izuki hops in front of the bespectacled Touou captain when Takao notices something from up above in the stands. “Their balance is off; everyone but Aomine and Kagami are shifted to one side of the court. They’re doing that on purpose.”

Both he and [Name] narrow their eyes when the ball is thrown to Aomine, speaking in unison though on opposite sides of the court. “Isolation.”

Takao continues his explanation, unaware of his and [Name]’s alike minds. “In order to allow special players to move freely, the remaining players gather to one side.”

“A one-on-one between both team’s aces,” Midorima states beside Kise.

[Name] winces at Aomine’s smirk towards Kagami, already aware of what’s coming. There’s no way for her to tell him exactly what to do at the same pace Aomine is about to move at. Well, technically, there is…. No. She can’t afford to do that. Not here, not now; but… the way Kagami guards him now is not the correct stance to be marking a streetball player. He’s going to get crossed in just a couple of moves. She could just… No. No, she can’t. She swore to herself she’d never again... With a stern expression, the only thing [Name] can do is fold her arms at the sidelines, praying that Kagami can pull something out of his ass and stop Aomine from scoring too many points in the next half.

Just as she predicted, [Name] watches as Aomine takes a half step back, crossing under his right leg. He then dips his shoulder in the opposite direction Kagami just leaned to guard him, throwing the redhead’s balance off a bit by baiting him to follow. As soon as he does, Aomine’s smirk grows, and he switches to his left hand by immediately crossing back under his right. As soon as it’s in his left, he ducks back before sprinting forward, flying past Kagami before he can ever react.

The move itself that he just displayed isn’t all too difficult; in all honesty, it was rather basic, in [Name]’s book. However, the level of skill and precision he just displayed while performing it is what made it so extraordinary. His speed and agility are insane, and he knows it, too, smirking as he spins past Hyuga and goes for the right layup. Just as he finger rolls it into the basket, the ball about to bounce on the rim and fall in, Kagami jumps up and smacks it against the backboard, denying the shot at the very last second. Even Aomine’s slightly impressed by his quick reaction time as Hyuga collects the rebound.

“Fast break!” the captain roars, throwing the ball to Izuki, who’s the first back on offense.

However, the eagle eye is locked out, for all four other Touou players are already back on defense. With his ability to think quickly, Izuki passes the ball behind his back to his left, where none other than Kuroko is running up, determination gracing his features. With the Ignite pass, he sends the ball between Sakurai and Imayoshi, where Kagami had bolted to get under their net, seeing as he’s the only person currently capable of catching it. Indeed, he made it on time, receiving the pass with ease. As he goes for the dunk, Aomine had already caught up, jumping up and denying it from behind, a wicked grin on his face.

As the buzzer echoes throughout the court, indicating it’s now halftime, the score remains unchanged for the first half, despite Aomine being thrown into the fray. 

Aomine hums, cleaning out his ear with his pinky. “Not bad. Seeing as you guys were ten points behind when I showed up, I feared you might suck. You’re not bad, aren’t you?”

Kise sighs from the stands at his words, shaking his head. “Aominecchi…”

Midorima scowls. “He’s completely unbearable…”

Said ace grins at [Name] as she hands a water bottle to Mitobe, and she meets his wicked eyes with an equally hard stare of her own. Not one that holds malice or hatred, but one that’s cold and calculating. His excitement only begins to bubble higher in his chest after she looks at him like that, his hands on his hips.

“Perhaps I’ll actually try in the second half, [Last Name][Name]…”

In the Seirin locker room, Riko quickly pulls out a tupperware container, offering the dish to the team, smiling in excitement. “Here! These will replenish your energy!”

When she removes the lid, the whole team deadpans at its contents. Inside is what looks to be an attempt at making lemon slices soaked in honey, but she hadn’t even sliced the lemons and the color of the honey is oddly suspicious. With a nervous gulp, Izuki turns to their center, a hopeful look in his eyes.

“Mitobe-kun, please tell me you brought some?”

The silent player nods, pulling a container out of his locker and handing it to him. With a small smile at Riko’s despair, [Name] pulls out a second container that she had brought herself. “Here. Seeing as I thought Taiga might eat a whole container himself, I also made some. I’m not the best when it comes to cooking, but I do know how to prepare healthy snacks!”

After experiencing Riko’s handiwork in the past, the team can’t help but be a bit wary of their manager’s culinary abilities because of it. They anxiously watch as she pops off the lid to the [F/C] container, eyeing the contents within. Their eyes widen at the honey lemons, the slices almost seeming to glow within the golden honey. They look more than edible, unlike Riko’s. Kagami’s the first to reach in and try one, popping the slice in his mouth.

“Hey, these are pretty damn good!”

After his confirmation, the rest of the team swarms [Name], trying to snag a couple slices for themselves, grabbing a couple of Mitobe’s, too. This sight leaves Riko completely floored, her container still completely full of lemons she had worked so hard to make, not a single one of her boys having even glanced at them. [Name] can’t help but giggle at her melodramatic behavior, watching as a pale hand reaches into her container to grab a slice.

“Ah, Tetsu-chan,” she addresses the bluette directly as he nibbles on the snack. “Seeing as you played the whole first quarter and a bit of the second, I think it would be best to sit you out for a bit.”

With a slightly depressed sigh, he takes a seat on the bench, nodding. “Sure.”

“Tch, just eat these on the bench and stop complaining, you idiot,” Kagami shoves one of Riko’s lemons into Kuroko’s mouth, the entire fruit not able to fit past his jaw. “You’re the one who said you can’t play basketball by yourself, after all. Leave it to us!”

Kuroko stares up at his light, eyes wide as Kagami humbles him a bit. He feels a comforting hand on his shoulder, leading his eyes up to [Name]’s affirming smile. Feeling as if a bit of weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Kuroko spits the lemon out into the palm of his hand, gazing up at the two and nodding.

Riko nods. “[Name]-chan’s right. We’re going to take Kuroko out for a bit in the second half, so our battle will begin in the fourth quarter! Be ready to play anytime I feel that we need you, Kuroko-kun. You may have to be put in sooner than you think.”

[Name] gingerly takes the full lemon out of his hand and replaces it with a slice, shooting him a subtle but cute wink. “Here. You might prefer this.”

He blinks at her before turning to face Riko once more, eating the lemon quietly as his coach continues. “Their inside is especially strong. We’ll put Tsuchida-kun in for the third quarter. He and Mitobe-kun will guard together under the net and collect rebounds for us. That leaves Kagami-kun to help out as well with his height. We’re counting on you.”

The redhead nods, her words motivating him. “Right!”

Riko smirks as [Name] puts the now empty container away, grinning widely. “Let’s go Seirin! Fight!”

“Yeah!”

[Name]’s the first to head back to the court, wanting to get there a bit before her team to ensure that their water bottles and towels are ready for them when they get there. When she jogs back out to the court, she can hear the rubber of sneaker soles squeaking against the polished floor and the sound of a ball swishing through the net. Turning the corner, she sees none other than Aomine to be warming up on his own, his team still in his locker room.

He doesn’t notice her at first, but it’s difficult to miss her radiant aura. So when one of the balls he shoots goes rogue after it makes the bucket, he watches as it rolls and stops at her feet. She leans over to pick it up, tucking it between the crook of her arm and her hip, tucking some hair behind her ear as she stares at Aomine, eyes never blinking. He smirks, stalking over to her. He towers over her in height, but even as she cranes her neck back to meet his gaze, there’s no hesitation in her tone.

“It’s refreshing to see that you’re warming up,” she tells him calmly.

He cracks his neck. “Well, I may be stubborn, but I’m not that much of a stuck up. I have to admit, I may have underestimated you guys a bit, and I should’ve shown up sooner. Might as well make the most of half time and warm up.”

There’s a spark behind her [E/C] eyes as a wicked grin creeps onto her lips. “Good.”

“Now, missy, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” Aomine slurs, leaning a bit closer to her. “When I ran into Kagami the other day and played him one-on-one, he told me something that I found rather interesting.”

“Oh?” [Name] coos, rolling the basketball along her palm. “And what did he tell you?”

By now, Aomine was close enough to whisper in her ear, causing some of the spectators in the stands to speculate about what they may be talking about. Takao, Kise, and Midorima, however, glare at the Miracle’s former ace and the stubborn smirk on his face. “He told me that you had let me win during our little one-on-one. Now, he could’ve been lying, of course. He might just be trying to protect his beloved manager’s reputation, but…. I can’t help but look back on your movements during that one-on-one and think that you may have been holding back on me. Tell me that isn’t true, [Last Name}-san; that I won fair and square.”

[Name]’s grin has shrunk down to a small but prideful smirk by the end of Aomine’s soft and sultry spiel in her ear. As he leans back to catch the look on her face, he finds that it’s one he hadn’t been expecting. Maybe shock, or guilt, sure; but no one takes this much pride in letting someone beat them, do they? It practically takes someone to willingly throw away their pride to lose to someone, in the first place. Nevertheless, here [Name] stands, in all her glory, smirking cockily at him.

And before he can blink, she’s nowhere to be seen. His eyes widen, a gust of wind rippling his practice jersey around his body as a [H/C] blur whips past him. Aomine spins on his heel to watch [Name] jog over to the basket, only to see that she's already under the net. Takao stands from his seat in shock at her speed, Kise gripping onto the railing in front of him and gasping audibly. Even Midorima’s jaw drops a bit, his eyes wide. Seeing [Last Name][Name] streak from half court to the net in under a second was really a sight to behold.

She casually finger rolls the ball into the basket, landing gracefully as she once again faces Aomine. Holding her right arm out, the ball falls from the net and lands perfectly in her palm. Without a word, she tosses him the ball, and he catches it at his chest. [Name] doesn’t meet his gaze as she brushes past Aomine and hands him a towel to wipe off the sweat that had formed on his brow, his shocked eyes following her every movement. Just as the sleeve of her uniform brushes against his bare arm, she tells him very softly…

“There’s a lot that you don’t know about me, Aomine Daiki…”

Said power forward can’t help but grin at her words, putting the towel over his head as she scurries over to meet her team once they come out of the locker rooms. There’s nothing that turns him on more than a bit of confidence, and this girl sure as hell has enough of it. His blood begins to boil in his veins, the sight of her alone getting him all excited. No one ever in his life has ever approached him with the potential that she does. She might be the one he’s been looking for all this time.

A worthy opponent.

“You finished warming up?”

Kagami’s steady voice snaps Aomine out of his trance, tearing his eyes away from the Seirin manager. “Of course I am, so you better put up a good fight until the end. I can see you have it in you. If you didn’t, this wouldn’t be very fun in the first place.”

Even without Kuroko in play, the third quarter kicks off at a very fast pace. Barely even seconds after tip off, Aomine is in possession of the ball, facing a very determined Kagami. Kise narrows his eyes from the raptors, hands in his pockets as he thinks to himself; ‘playing against Aominecchi without Kurokocchi is too hard. But, looking at Kagamicchi now… I feel like I might just see something incredible from him. He might be able to do it.’

Aomine smirks as he faces Kagami one-on-one, amused by the fact his opponent is still fired up. He begins dribbling the ball in place before dipping past Kagami in a flash of black uniform and blue locks. He breaks past Kagami’s defense effortlessly before approaching Tsuchida and Mitobe in the paint. Coming to a screeching halt, Aomine jumps back for the fadeaway, which he’s very confident he’s going to make. The only thing that shakes that certainty just a hair is Kagami’s jump and swipe from behind, just a millisecond too late to lay a fingertip on the ball. His speed, albeit just not enough, still impresses Aomine, eyes wide even as the bucket makes two points. 

“Damn, he’s just too fast,” Koga curses.

[Name] looks up grimly from her clipboard at the bluette. “When it comes to movement, speed is not all about how fast you can go. It’s about how effortlessly you can accelerate from zero movement to maximum movement, and decelerate from max back to zero. It depends on your agility; how quickly you can work on your feet. And unfortunately for us, Aomine Daiki is one of the most agile individuals I have ever come across.”

Hyuga isn’t slowing down for anybody, however, collecting the ball under the net and hurling it as far down court as he could, where Kagami is already sprinting down to the basket. “Kagami!”

Momoi gasps at the fast break while Aomine curses under his breath, swiveling around to chase after him. Kagami snags the ball out of the air and jumps for the dunk, about to slam it through the rim when Aomine smacks it out of bounds from behind. Kagami falls back down to the floorboards, crouching down to a knee to soften the landing. Aomine lands behind him with a smirk. “I can’t let you do something like that.”

He narrows his eyes, however, very amused by the redhead before him. For he and [Name] were the only two people on the court to notice something about Kagami’s dunk: he had jumped from the freethrow line. While Aomine is amused by the stunt, finding it unbelievable for this high school student to have the audacity to try and make a dunk from the free throw line, [Name] is in shock. Eyes gold, she scans the trajectory of where his jump would’ve ended up if Aomine hadn’t intercepted it; Kagami might’ve actually made it. Despite his knees being in the condition they are, there was still a chance. How insane is this kid?

With the ball back in play, it’s immediately stolen back by Aomine, who faces Kagami solo again with a smirk. “I have to be real- honest, indoor basketball isn’t for me.”

[Name] narrows her eyes at his form, fingers gripping her chin. Riko analyzes the ace for Touou. “His form… He seems different.”

“This is Aomine’s true style of basketball,” [Name] explains softly, her eyes glued onto Aomine the whole time as he performs the unconventional movements dedicated to outdoor courts made of concrete. “Streetball.”

Said manager cringes as Aomine easily crosses Kagami, breaking his ankles along the way as he leaves him in the dust. Even when breaking past Kagami, however, Aomine still faces a three man wall in the paint. He jumps for the shot, but he’s blocked from the only angle he could possibly take the shot from. Therefore, he’s forced behind the hoop. Riko jumps up in celebration of finally blocking one of the miracle ace’s shots; even [Name] relaxes a bit.

That is, until she watches Aomine toss the ball up from behind the backboard and watches it sail over the top and fall through the rim, almost seamlessly. As the crowd erupts into cheers after the shot makes two points, Riko gasps, clenching her fist. “What was that shot!? What bullshit!”

“That shit is unfair…” [Name] agrees under her breath, brow twitching. Even though she says this aloud, however, she can’t deny the excitement she feels within while watching Aomine play. Her heart rate accelerates when she sees him pull a move off with success; she would never admit it aloud, but the more she watches Aomine school her own team, the more and more she only wants to play him herself. 

As Kagami regains his footing, wiping some sweat from his upper lip, he locks eyes with a smug Aomine and grins. “The Generation of Miracles is seriously full of ridiculous guys.”

And the rivalry continues. Kagami struggles to keep up with Aomine’s street play; a style of basketball he only experienced every once in a while while in America. And although he’s getting used to it, albeit very, very slowly, he still can’t catch him. That is until he believes he has him cornered out, blocking all possible shots from the position he put Aomine in.

However, Aomine’s shots seem to be anything but possible.

Instead of raising his arm up and shooting the ball, as one does in basketball, Aomine instead curves his arm around Kagami’s block and chucks it at the hoop, the trajectory somehow perfect. It hits the only spot on the backboard to possibly allow the ball to fall through the net and score another two points.

“What the hell was that shot!?” Kawohara gapes.

[Name] huffs, taking a seat on the floor beside the bench and crossing her legs, clipboard slipping off her lap as she folds her hands by her chin and narrows her eyes. “In all sports, including basketball, fundamental movements and the ideal form have been polished throughout the sport’s history. Therefore, once a player has become an expert in recognizing this form, they become capable of predicting their opponents movements; and vice versa, your options are limited when it comes to keeping your opponent from reading you. That’s why in basketball, it becomes a strategic battle between defense and offense. That is the game. However, Aomine’s discovered a way around this; a way to play basketball without predictable movements. He’s mastered the ability of being completely formless; he makes it look so lazy, but in reality, it’s rather genius. No one can read a shot like that; he chucked it over Taiga’s shoulder with one hand. A shot like that is impossible to predict, much less stop. To play so carefree like Aomine does, he’s become limitless and near impossible to defend against. He truly is an impressive scorer.”

The other members of the Seirin team are much less accustomed to street ball than Kagami and [Name] are; therefore, they struggle defending him even more so than the former does. In fact, they aren’t even really a challenge in Aomine’s eyes. Not even Kagami is while in the state he’s playing right now. The way he changes pace is so irregular compared to that of regulated basketball, which is all the basketball that the Seirin team grew up with. Aomine, however, learned to play with the adults out on the streets.

Eventually, Aomine is back in the paint, where Kagami is waiting for him, determined to stop him at the freethrow line this time. He jumps up with Aomine, reaching an arm out to stop his shot. Aomine smirks, grunting as he leans back into another fadeaway. “Yeah, yeah. You can jump high, I know. Good for you; but I’m tired of this.”

In order to compensate for Kagami’s insanely high vertical, Aomine leans back into the fadeaway until he’s nearly parallel with the floor about a meter or two below him before taking the shot. The ball barely sails above Kagami’s outstretched fingertips. Somewhat unsurprisingly - sans still impressively - the ball ricochets against the backboard and through the hoop, scoring Touou another two points.

Riko stands flabbergasted. “Most professional basketball players shoot at a consistent height, but he shot that so far back into the fadeaway. He’s all over the place!”

“I’ll just have to beat him with height,” Kagami tells himself as he enters a fast breakaway down the court and lines up for a quick jump shot. “If he can’t reach me, he can’t stop me…”

However, before the soles of Kagami’s shoes can even lift off the ground, the ball is smacked out of his hands by Aomine, who smirks as he mocks him. “Sorry, but you were so slow that I had to take the ball. It was as if my hand moved on its own.”

Enraged by the steal, Kagami streaks after Aomine back down the court, impressing even the bluette with his speed this deep into the second half. He’s nearly gaining on him, due to the adrenaline. However, Kagami seems to be a little too focused on stopping Aomine that he’s getting somewhat reckless. [Name] cringes as the redhead jumps up behind Aomine, who’s preparing for the shot. By sacrificing balance for speed, Kagami bumps into Aomine’s back rather harshly, pulling a whistle and a foul from the ref. However, before either of the two aces land back down on the floor, Aomine curves his arm behind his back and ducks his head down lower. Eyes wide, [Name] scrambles up to her feet and jogs down the sidelines a bit, desperate to get a better view of what she’s predicting Aomine is about to do. Said power forward flicks his wrist, letting the ball fly over his back and head, arching towards the hoop and scoring nothing but net. And just like that, Aomine pulls an extra point from the foul.

[Name] nearly collapses as Aomine and Kagami return to their feet, her heart racing so fast as her wide [E/C] eyes plant on Aomine. And at this moment, she realizes how naive she had been for thinking Seirin stood a chance at winning this battle at the current state they’re in. Of course she knows her boys are more than capable of defeating Aomine and Touou, but not right now. At first, she blamed herself for disappearing to Karasuno for a week and neglecting their training, but now she realizes that a week would not be enough.

And from that moment on, [Name] realizes it’s going to be a long and strenuous summer.

“Is this your style of basketball?” Aomine asks loudly, turning to smirk at Kuroko on the bench and wagging a finger at him in a taunting manner. “C’mon in, Tetsu. Let’s settle this.”

Face remaining to be stone cold of any emotion, Kuroko stands. “I’ve had plenty of time to rest. I’m going.”

Riko bites her lip, but seems to have no complaint. [Name] has yet to return from where she now stands on the sidelines. Aomine smirks. “Come show me the strength of the new light and shadow.”

As Kuroko subs in for Tsuchida, he immediately approaches Kagami, who’s glaring at Aomine. “Let’s go, Aomine.”

The opposing ace smirks at the challenge. “Yeah. Bring it on.”

Aomine watches Kuroko’s first play of the second half; his full court Cyclone Pass cuts right past him and into the awaiting hands of Kagami. Aomine’s quick, however, and makes it back in time just to block Kagami’s shot; that is, if the redhead had taken it in the first place. As soon as Aomine jumps to block him, Kagami back passes the ball to Hyuga, who teases him with a smirk.

“Huh? What’s wrong with you today, Kagami? That was actually a pretty nice pass,” he slurs as he makes the three, angered by the fact that the first years are on the bench praying that the shot makes it. As soon as it does, Hyuga glares at them ominously. “Stop praying, first years! Every time I line up for a shot, you should be preparing to celebrate!”

They all shrink back from his glare, terrified of facing their captain’s wrath. [Name] snickers, standing beside the bench. “I see he’s slipped into clutch mode.”

The difference in play is obvious now that Kuroko is back on the court. Before, no one was making shots but Aomine; not even a single other player on Touou had gained a single point in the second half, all being made by Aomine instead. Now, Seirin is back on the climb, with Kuroko making steals and his sneaky passes as well. Aomine realizes this, too, watching his fellow bluette run back for defense with a grin.

“You haven’t changed, Tetsu. Not at all,” Aomine tells him as he runs past; Kuroko stops to listen. “You’re still the same as you were in middle school. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed.”

Kuroko looks up at the taller player before him, having only four words to say. “This is my basketball.”

Back on offense, Izuki passes the ball to Kuroko, who’s wide open. Seeing as he has a straight shot to Kagami, the bluette cocks his arm back and propels the ball forward with his palm, performing the pass only Kagami can catch: the Ignite Pass.

That is, it was the pass that only Kagami could catch - until Aomine stuck his arm out and palmed it, stopping all the force behind it with ease. He smirks at Kuroko’s disbelief. “Who do you think has caught more of your passes - him or me?”

The moment Aomine has the ball, he breaks past Izuki, Hyuga, and Mitobe and sprints towards the basket. The only people left to hustle back are Kagami and Kuroko, who jump for the block. Even Kuroko, with the weakest vert on the team, jumps with Kagami in desperation to stop the shot. Aomine, though impressed by their determination, slams it into the basket, leaving the two to fall to the floor, both of them collapsing when they land, completely out of breath as Aomine looks down on them.

“How sad,” Aomine condescends his former teammate, weakly sitting up as he tries to catch his breath. “You haven’t improved at all. So what if you’ve learned a couple new flashy passes; they won’t help you at all. Akashi was right… your basketball will never win.

And the game goes on. [Name] watches Aomine perform even more impressive shots; he even shoots while rolling against Kagami just past the freethrow, shooting practically backwards in the spin and still somehow making it. Her golden eyes slip down to Kagami’s legs, which are progressively getting weaker and weaker throughout the game. Riko notices this too, telling Tsuchida to start warming up.

“Kagami-kun,” the coach calls as the scorekeepers stop the clock for the member to change.

“Why the hell are you pulling me out again?” Kagami asks in disbelief and frustration.

“Just get on the bench!” Riko snaps, not having his back talk at the moment. 

After hearing his coach bark an order like that, Kagami shuts his ass up and begins walking over to the Seirin bench. [Name] narrows her eyes and inspects his walking pattern, immediately noticing that he’s avoiding putting his weight on his right leg while he walks, though very subtle. Therefore, he’s been putting a heavy burden on his left leg throughout this whole game; his right leg has been healing much more slowly. He can’t be allowed to play for the rest of the game. The amount of strain he’s been putting on his left leg is too great. At the rate this game is going in the first place, it isn’t worth him being in and injuring himself anymore anyway. Even if Seirin could win this match and go on to the next in the championship league, [Name] would keep Kagami benched; as she looks at him now, its beginning to get serious.

A towel over his head to hide his embarrassment, Kagami takes a seat on the bench, head held low. Feeling a bit of pity for the redhead, [Name] walks over to him and places a hand under his chin, forcing him to keep his head held up high. He looks up, expecting to see his manager smiling down at him comfortingly - however, his eyes widen at her grim stare, not on him, but the court as her fingers curl under his sweaty chin. As soon as she removes her hand and faces her full body to the court again, Kagami clenches his fists in frustration, but keeps holding his head high as he clenches his teeth.

And the Touou players are impressed by his fortitude. In any other game against them, all players have given up in the presence of Aomine. They usually don’t find the effort worth it anymore after facing him for a mere five minutes. Kagami, however, is pissed he’s being benched and itching to go back in just so that he can play Aomine for a little bit longer, determined to do anything to stop him at this point, even though it’s still so late in the game. Even after Seirin is losing this badly, their ace remains radiating with rage. It would be a lie for them to say they aren’t impressed by his drive.

Seeing this, Aomine turns to Kuroko, who struggles to even remain standing from fatigue. “It’s already decided, Tetsu. Your special pass didn’t work, you’re out of stamina, and your light is benched for the rest of the game. It’s over.”

Kuroko, shoulders heaving with every breath, glares at him, speaking softly. “It’s not over yet. The only time that the possibility of victory is at 0% is when all the players on a team give up. I refuse to make it 0%, even if I’m the only one left standing. As long as one person is willing to play, nothing is impossible. That is why I won’t give up!”

Aomine’s heart skips a beat, if only for a second, when he hears these words, only to smirk knowingly at the much shorter player marking him. “I’ll acknowledge one thing, Tetsu: you don’t give up easily.”

And with that, as Kuroko reaches out to jab the ball Aomine dribbles, the ace brushes past him with ease to dunk another two points through the hoop.

No one gives up.

They all fight to the very bitter end.

But the difference between Seirin and Touou’s scores only grows wider.

No one cries.

112-55...

Seirin was completely destroyed.


	14. Divulgence

As the buzzer goes off to end the fourth quarter, the crowd hollering loudly for Touou, Aomine smirks and faces [Name], who’s face remains devoid of any emotion; however, he noticed the white blotchiness of her knuckles as she clutches her clipboard to her chest. Kuroko passes her as he takes a seat next to Kagami, towel still over his head. [Name] does the same for the phantom player, throwing a white rag over his blue hair as well in case he wants privacy. And Kuroko seems to be grateful for it, not removing it as he stares at his lap.

Up in the stands, Takao stands from his seat in disbelief. “They doubled their score…? Imagine how badly we would have lost if Touou beat Seirin this badly…”

Meanwhile, Midorima seems to have nothing to say, brows cross as he turns to leave. “Later, Kise.”

“Seriously!?” said blond turns to face him, Midorima stopping to listen to what he has to say. “Are you not shocked by these results?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Midorima peers over the railing, nodding at one of the players on the Seirin bench, towel covering his head as he leans over his lap, hands folded. “You should be more concerned about Kuroko than me.”

“Huh…?” Kise looks at the defeated player on the bench.

“Kuroko’s basketball was utterly useless against Aomine. All that he believes in was just proven wrong in forty minutes,” Midorima explains. “It won’t be easy for him or his team to come back from such a devastating loss overnight. We can only hope it won’t affect the remainder of their season.”

Aomine clears his throat loudly, quickly getting [Name]’s attention as he grins at her. “I want a real challenge. This court is still open; there’s no more games after this one for today. What do you say, [Last Name]-san? I want a proper one-on-one; I want to face you at your best.”

The manager looks at him with her emotionless stare once again as she hands a water bottle to Tsuchida, her eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly as she frowns. As she’s about to open her mouth to respond, she’s tentatively interrupted.

“Uh, [Name]-san?” Furihata tries to get her attention meekly, pointing at her bag by the bench. “I think your phone is ringing.”

Prying her eyes away from Aomine, [Name] pulls the cell out and looks at the contact. As soon as she sees who it is, her eyes widen and she quickly turns to Riko. “I’m sorry. This is important. I have to take this privately. I’ll meet you guys in the locker rooms.”

Looking rather distraught, Riko nods, and [Name] takes one last cold look at Aomine as she runs off the court to a more private location, answering the call and raising the phone to her ear. His eyes follow her the entire way, frowning as she goes.

As the teams head into their respective locker rooms and begin changing, one of the Touou first years who doesn’t play first string begins talking a bit of smack. “I mean, I expected Seiring to be a lot better, didn’t you? How the fuck did they crush two kings in one day? Seiho and Shutoku back to back? I can barely believe that after watching play so horribly today. I expected them to put up more of a challenge, but I’m honestly disappointed. Especially that No. 11 guy; Kuroko, right? He played like absolute shit at the end! After hearing all about him as a member of Teiko’s first string, I expected him to actually be good, but he was absolute trash-...”

Before the benchwarmer can even finish his sentence, Aomine grabs him by his collar and slams him into the lockers, his glare at the kid more than just menacing. “You sure talk a lot for someone who didn’t play. It’s annoying, so shut the fuck up.”

“Aomine!” Wakamatsu scolds. “The hell are you doing!? Put him down!”

Growling, Aomine glares at him one last time before throwing the kid down on the tile and walking out of the locker room without another word. Momoi sighs as she watches him go, but can’t help but be proud of him for sticking up for his former teammate.

As it begins to get late and Seirin is getting ready to leave, [Name] has yet to return to the locker room after running away to take that call she got. Beginning to grow concerned and also very much so inclined to go home, Riko asks Kuroko to go find her so that they can all get going. The bluette inclines, heading out of the lockers alone to look for her. He walks down the empty halls in solitude, feeling both utterly defeated by the team's loss to Touou and also because he feels as if he’s lost Kagami, as well.

Fifteen to twenty minutes later, having no luck with his search for [Name], Kuroko slows down at the sound of muffled sobs. Glancing around, the only door he can see is to his right, and it's closed. It seems to be an unused locker room, reserved for no teams today. Curious, he opens it and heads inside very quietly, not wanting to startle whoever’s in here. Lucky for him, it isn’t difficult seeing as he lacks a strong presence. So he soundlessly walks into the locker room.

Unfortunately for him, however, it’s one of the only people in the world who can sense when he’s in a room.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

\--- Kuroko ---

[Name], who had been sitting on the floor farthest from the door in the room, facing the lockers and leaning against the bench in the very far back, peers back over her shoulder and locks eyes with me. Hers are wide, blotchy and red. She quickly turns away and begins wiping her eyes with her sweater sleeve, attempting to hide her tears from me. As soon as I see her in this state, my heart stops. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen her sad before. I’ve most definitely never seen her cry.

I very gently approach her, stepping over the bench she leans against. I don’t bring up the fact that she’s crying, seeing as it's blatantly obvious that she's trying to hide it from me. I take a seat beside her and just sit with her in silence, even though I’m more than just curious about why she’s crying. I want so badly to ask her, but I hold myself back. I’m led to assume it’s because of the game, but I still don’t pry. If she wants to clarify, then she will without me asking.

She then turns to me with a smile, which is - while convincing - very forced, her [E/C] eyes still red and cheeks tearstained. “Sorry, my call went longer than expected. I didn’t mean to make you have to go looking for me, Tetsu-chan.”

I meet her gaze, realizing I was wrong; she’s not going to talk to me about it unless I ask. I refuse to let her get away with crying without telling someone what’s wrong. It might as well be me. So my gaze softens. “If this is about the game, [Nickname]-chan, it’s not your fault…”

Her eyes widen and she quickly looks away, her hair curtaining her face. I wait for her response patiently. Her voice cracks softly as she speaks. “...I wish this was about the game.”

My eyes are now wide, confusion and curiosity overwhelming me. “It’s not?”

She shakes her head, tears once again slipping down her cheeks as she looks at me, grabbing the cell phone by her legs. “No…”

My eyes flicker to her phone she holds, things beginning to click. “The call?”

Just two words slip out of my mouth and she chokes, her shoulders wracking as she once again begins to sob softly, turning her head away in embarrassment. She struggles to speak. “I-I’m sorry… You shouldn’t be seeing me like this. I-I don’t have any e-excuses to be in s-such a state right now…. E-Especially not after today…”

My chest tightens as I begin to panic. I’m not sure what to do in this situation. The only crying girl I’ve comforted before now has been Momoi, and she cries over stupid things all the time. This is a very different situation with a very different girl over what seems to be more serious circumstances. Obviously I need to comfort her, but the problem is I don’t know how to go about it in the right way. 

Still panicking, I instinctively grab her hand. This gets her attention, and she turns to look at me. I never thought seeing her like this would pain me so much, but-... I think I’d do anything just to see her stunning smile again, radiating happiness. “That doesn’t matter. It’s in the past, and we’ll get through it as a team. Please, [Name], tell me what’s wrong.”

She bites her lip, and I squeeze her hand in a comforting manner as she continues to sob. Eventually, she unlocks her cell phone and pulls up a screenshot on the device, gingerly showing it to me with her shaky hand. I place my free hand under hers to help hold the phone up and silently read the screenshot of what looks to be an article from a popular sports channel in America. Thankfully I can read English pretty well, despite not being able to speak it, although [Name] has been teaching me the basics.

‘Basketball prodigy [Name][Last Name] remains to be MIA; the third month.’

After reading the title, I glance over the picture of her in what I assume to be her old high school basketball uniform, dribbling on the basketball court. The jersey is maroon with white numbers and gold lettering, the shorts looking rather loose on her, seeing as she has them rolled up. She sports a pair of [F/C] Air Jordan 11's, the colors complimenting her personality perfectly. Her hair is tied back and in this photo, her eyes are [E/C], not gold. She looks maybe just a year younger and much more serious looking than she is now. I keep reading.

‘Seraphina [Last Name], wife of late NBA star Rembrandt [Last Name] and three-time olympic gold medalist for American volleyball, tells ESPN that her eldest child and only son, Laurence [Last Name], has gone hysterical since her only daughter, [Name], has gone missing in February. She claims he has been neglecting his college classes and even his more-than-promising basketball career to instead search for his younger sister. With no clues as to where [Name] could be since she’s quit basketball and cut herself off from all social media, Laurence says he hasn’t been finding much success, but agreed to finally talk to ESPN’s reporters after having refused multiple times since [Name]’s disappearance’.

The next picture is of a guy who looks to be in his early twenties; while he’s physically fit and keeps his appearance clean, he looks somewhat sickly. Like maybe he hasn’t cut his hair in awhile or that he’s not eating too well. There are dark bags under his murky [E/C] eyes and his hair, a bright shade of red similar to that of Akashi's, separated pretty evenly down his part, is disheveled. He looks like a bit of a mess, and I assume it can only be [Name]’s brother, Laurence, as the article stated. He and her do look like they’re related. Their eye colors and face shape are very similar. I wonder what caused their drastically different hair colors. 

‘Here’s what Laurence had to say about [Name]: “She’s my best friend, you know? She means the world to me. I’d hang out with her whenever either of us could both find the time to in our stupidly packed schedules. I mean, there’s no one in this world who I have more fun playing basketball with than my sister. She’s the light of my life at home, so without her, it’s been rather bleak. I miss her so f****ng much at this point. I’d do anything to find her and just give her a hug. It hurts not being able to see her. I just don’t want to lose her; to have to go through the same thing that happened when we lost our father. It was such a traumatic experience for both of us, and I want nothing more than for her to come back to me and spend time with me like we always would. I feel as if a part of me is missing without her-...’

And this far into the article, the rest of the words are cut off by the screenshot. I turn to look at [Name] again, who had not been reading the article but instead looking down at her lap. “You didn’t tell your family…?”

I suppose I probably should’ve phrased that differently, for she begins to sob uncontrollably as she shakes her head. Once again panicking, I decide I shouldn’t say anything else until she’s calmed down a bit. Now I just need to figure out how to calm her down. Wracking my mind for ideas, I bite my lip softly as I scoot a bit closer to her and lightly grip her shoulders, leaning her into my chest as I try to soothe her in my embrace.

She hiccups softly when I do this, but eventually loosens as she leans into me further, crying into my chest as she clutches the fabric of my jacket tightly. I rub her back soothingly as I feel her hot breath through my shirt and her tears soaking through the cotton and onto my skin. It takes a couple minutes, but she begins to control her breathing and calm herself down. Sniffing a bit, she leans back up and rubs her eyes. I remain patient, knowing she’ll explain to me once she’s ready.

[Name] clears her throat and finally looks at me, her [E/C] irises shining even brighter against her bloodshot eyes. “I’m sorry you had to see me like this, Tetsu-chan, but I at least owe you an explanation seeing as you went looking for me only to see me in such an embarrassing state. I just need you to promise me one thing.”

I shake my head. “Don’t be embarrassed, [Name]-chan. And I’ll promise you anything you ask of me.”

“I-...I just need you to keep what I’m about to tell you between us?” she bites her lip, averting her gaze. “Please….”

“This all stays between you and me,” I agree in a heartbeat.

Approving of my answer, [Name] nods slowly, her breath a bit shaky as she speaks. “No, I didn’t tell my family where I was going when I left America. I never told anyone, actually. But there’s a reason behind everything I did when I decided to flee to Japan. It's too long a story to get into as of right now, but... You have to believe me, there’s nothing that pains me more than not being able to tell my brother that I was leaving home for good; he’s my best friend, and I miss him even more as every day passes. However, no matter how much I want to, I can’t tell him where I am. The moment he knows where I am, my mother knows where I am. And I have to do everything it takes to keep my mother from finding me, because as soon as she does, she’ll bring me back home. There’s nowhere on this planet I’d rather avoid than my own home back in the states. Living there was dreadful; I hated it.”

I carefully heed every word she tells me, not wanting to miss a single bit of it. As she pauses her explanation, I decide to ask a question. “What made it so awful?”

[Name] takes another deep breath before speaking again. “Well, as I’m sure you already knew, my dad died when I was young…”

“Actually, I had no idea until I read that article,” I admit softly, feeling somewhat guilty. “I didn’t know your father was an NBA player.”

Surprisingly, [Name] smiles sadly in response to this. “He didn’t really have the chance to make it as big as he could’ve, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you've never heard of him. He was overlooked a lot because he was more of a supportive player, I guess. He made more assists than actual points. He wasn't tall enough to go for the flashy dunk shots, like Taiga or Aomine. But everyone who truly knew about professional basketball at the time knew about him. He was good friends with Kobe and played with him and the Lakers for twelve years before he was-... before he died. I was seven at the time, and my brother was eleven. As you can imagine, it was a very traumatic experience for the both of us, seeing as we were both so young. And my mother… She’s never really been the same since. Living at home without my dad became increasingly difficult. Even more so due to the fact that the spotlight on our family only became heavier after his death. I grew tired of it, so I left. I flew out of LA and came to Japan without telling a soul in hopes to lead a normal life here. All I want is to be a normal teenage girl who can do all it is that I enjoy to do; to have a family that I actually enjoy being around and spending time with…”

“...Was it worth it?” I ask softly, hoping for a specific answer.

“Of course. I found a family here, after all,” she chokes on a chuckle, looking at me with a sad smile. However, she quickly returns to her frown as she looks down at the photo of her brother. “It hurts so much that I might never see him again; at least not for a very long time. Looking at this picture of him, he looks so pale. I can tell I’m torturing him by not telling him where I am, that I’m safe. B-But I can’t-... I-I can’t tell him and it’s my fault he’s so miserable!”

Her phone falls to the floor with a clatter as she curls up into a ball and shoves her face into her palms, now almost wailing as she sobs uncontrollably. My heart feels like it’s squeezing my throat as I watch her like this; for her to be in so much pain and guilt. I can barely take it. [Name]’s the happiest person I know; is this how she feels when she’s not around me and the rest of the basketball team? When she’s on her own? Alone...? I push the thought away, not wanting to believe this might be how she is when no one else is around to see her.

Now determined to comfort her, I reach over and gently take her wrists, pulling them away from her face as she cries, and she looks at me through her tears while I speak. “[Name], there’s no way you can blame yourself for wanting a better life. If you’re happy here, then you shouldn’t be sorry. I’m sure your brother would want this for you if he knew how happy you are, so don’t be sorry. Besides, I’m sure you’ll see him again one day. And if not, you’ll always have me and the rest of the basketball team. We were who you meant when you said you found a family here in Japan, right?”

[Name]’s eyes are wide as she listens to me, not even blinking until after I’m done speaking. Biting her lip to keep herself from crying, she flings herself on to me without warning, knocking me over on accident and leaning on top of me, continuing to sob into my chest and hug me tightly. I’m a bit shocked by the sudden gesture, but don’t dare move in case I startle her.

“T-Thank you, Te-chan,” she whimpers softly, voice muffled by my shirt. My heart stops at the extremely adorable nickname; I feel my face getting warm as I think about anyone ever calling me that. I should hate it; it’s too cute. Embarrassing, even. It challenges my masculinity. However, looking down at the girl who sobs into my shirt for comfort, I can’t stop myself from loving it. [Name]’s the only one in the word I’d allow to call me Te-chan. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you guys. I’d do anything to stay here in Japan with my real family.”

I can’t help but smile when I hear that, patting her head and smoothing out her hair soothingly. “I’m glad, [Nickname]-chan. You’re a part of our team, too; our family. We wouldn’t be able to function without you around.”

She laughs at this, the melodic bellows vibrating in her chest against my stomach. “Thank you, Tetsu. That really means a lot to me.”

“Of course,” I finally sit us up, and she rubs her damp eyes with a genuinely bright smile, still sniffing. I smile smalley in return. “Coach is worried about you. It’s late, so we should probably be-...”

As I’m beginning to stand on my feet, [Name] suddenly grabs my sleeve, keeping me down on the floor beside her. She looks away in embarrassment, even blushing softly as she refuses to look me in the face when she asks me a favor. “S-Sorry, but could you stay with me for a little longer...? Just five more minutes so that I can clean myself up and make it look like I was never really crying, you know…”

Amused, I sit back down beside her with a nod. She seems very grateful to me for doing so, pulling her knees up to her chest as she sits. With a grunt, I shake off my warmup jacket and throw it over her shoulders. She looks at me with slightly wide eyes but doesn’t refuse the gesture. Eventually, she leans her head on my shoulder, and I glance over to make sure she hasn’t fallen asleep. Thankfully, her eyes remain open, looking straight ahead as she smiles sadly about something. She seems to be in deep thought, so I leave her be.

About five minutes of silence with one another, she pulls her head from off of my shoulder, and it feels almost foreign for its weight to be gone. [Name] looks at me thankfully, [E/C] eyes twinkling and no longer red. If I hadn’t known, I never could’ve told she cried in the first place. She stands up, my slightly larger jacket draping around her small frame as she offers her hand to me. I take it and she pulls me back up with ease.

“All right. I’m ready now,” she looks up at me, for I’m a few centimeters taller. “I don’t want to hold everyone up any longer.”

“Right,” I nod, walking with her back out the doors and back to the team locker room in silence, where the rest of the team has been waiting. They all turn to look at us upon entering, and to break the tension, I simply point at her and nonchalantly announce, “I found her.”

“Took you long enough. Where the hell were you, [Name]-chan?” Riko sighs, arms folded.

She looks away meekly, hugging herself and rubbing the back of her ankle with her opposite shoe. “Sorry. My call lasted a bit longer than I expected it to. I wrapped it up quickly once Tetsu-chan found me. Forgive me for holding you guys here.”

With a small and adorable bow from the manager, I’m amused by how quickly every single one of them instantly forgives her. Koganei, however, points something out, a brow arched. “Why are you wearing Kuroko’s jacket, [Name]-chan?”

Eyes wide, I can tell she fights back a blush as she searches for an answer. “Oh, um-”

“She took her call outside,” I cover for her stoically. “It was cold.”

This being an acceptable answer for the rest of the team, we all head out of the gym and back home for the night, ignoring any stares or whispers of conversations revolving around our loss. While some of the team hang their heads low in order to avoid any confrontation, [Name] marches at the front of the group, head held high as she glares at anyone who looks in our direction the wrong way. I smile subtly, proud that she still has the ability to act so strong after being so vulnerable moments ago. Pride swells in my chest to see her wearing my jacket as she wordlessly protects the team with her life.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, after an intense loss to Aoba Johsai during the third set of the third round of preliminaries, the Karasuno volleyball team walks out of the Miyagi gym struggling to hold their heads up high.

Ukai is keen to notice this. “All righty, then. Let’s go eat.”

The whole team fumbles, taken aback by his proposal. “E-Eat…?’

“Mm hmm. My treat, of course,” Ukai confirms assuredly.

“A-Actually, Ukai-kun….” Takeda chirps softly, holding up his phone to Ukai so that only the coach can see what’s being displayed on the screen. “This is the message I received not too long after the match…”

“R-Right…Tell her we’re going to the tavern down the street, then,” Ukai’s eyes are wide, but he grins, nonetheless. “C’mon. Let’s go eat!”

At said tavern at the end of the street, the boys walk in to find the restaurant completely empty. They gawk at the peaceful nature of the small place; the elderly female owner even moves to put the closed sign out behind them so that no other customers think of coming inside to disturb the peace.

Not only is the restaurant empty, but the largest table in the farthest corner of the establishment is already set and covered with every meal on the menu, as if waiting for them to sit down and dig in. 

“Thank you for going through all this trouble for us, miss!” Ukai thanks the owner.

“Oh, no worries,” she chuckles, heading back to the kitchen. “Remember when we used to do this for you back when you were a teenager, Keishin-san?”

He rolls his eyes, obviously amused, before turning to face his team as they take their seats. He senses their confusion and decides to explain. “Everything before you is courtesy of [Last Name][Name]. I’m afraid she’s held up in Tokyo at the moment in order to attend her basketball team’s final league match in their own Inter-High. Therefore, after hearing about your loss, in order to make up for the fact that she couldn’t be here today, she has called in ahead to have you dine in at this establishment; her treat. She has assured me that the expense has no effect on her, and encourages you all to order as much as you like. I highly propose you accept her gracious offer.”

The boys gawk at their coach as he runs his spiel to them, their admiration for [Name] swelling. Sure, they were still rather upset at her for running off in the early morning during training camp without even saying goodbye, but… The effort she’s putting into supporting them is still present. They can feel it, even miles away from wherever she must be in Tokyo.

“H-How could we possibly accept-...” Daichi begins only for Ukai to stop him in his tracks.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna piss [Last Name]-san off, and she will be if you don’t accept,” he warns, and no one pipes up after that. He sighs, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “All that running and jumping puts stress on the joints and tears muscle fiber. By the end of a game, your muscle fibers will be in tatters and your joints will be sore. You recover by eating. That’s what gives you muscle. That will make you stronger. So, eat up. Eat a proper meal. Eat the food [Last Name]-san has so generously provided us with, despite being holed up miles away.”

Sharing a glance between one another, Suga and Daichi are the first to pick up their chopsticks and begin dining. This prompts the rest of the team to slowly join them, picking up their utensils and gathering different foods from separate dishes to add to their plates. No one talks among one another; no one even looks at the person beside them, across from them. They eat in silence, not daring to utter a word.

Slowly, but surely, waterworks begin to quietly flow, nearly every boy at the table allowing tears to stream down their faces. All but the bespectacled blond boy, eating his rice with a sense of indifference gracing his features. Only the coaches are able to detect the sorrow gleam in his eyes. The more and more they stuff their faces, ordering more and more food, forgetting it would be coming out of [Name]’s expenses, they cry harder and harder. For their loss, for each other, for themselves…

All the while, Ukai and Takeda seat themselves at the end of the table, smiling sadly as they watch them all dine on free food, building up their strength again, even if gradually. For that is all that they can do at this moment. They lost, sure; therefore, the only thing they can humanly do is get stronger. And the only way to do that is by eating first.

So they eat.


	15. Recovery

The day immediately following the Touou match, I accompany Kagami to an urgent orthopedics appointment for his legs. I sit in the little doctor's office with him as he seats himself on the table. His shoes touch the floor when he sits on the edge; I can't help but wonder what that feels like. Fully grown and mine still dangle. About an hour of evaluation later, Kagami has been ordered to two weeks absolute rest before going back to physical therapy. Long story short, he's not very happy about his diagnosis nor his treatment plan. While he heads home to sulk, not uttering a word to me once we leave the doctors, I join up with the rest of the team in the gym for practice. They all gather around Riko as I join her side, listening to the strength and conditioning drills for today.

“How about three times the amount of training?” Riko suggests with a taunting smile.

And all the guys erupt into complaint, whining about how sore they’re going to be after, but I just giggle. “What was that? Four times?”

And just like that, they all shut up and get to work, accepting the triple training day without a second peep. Riko and I share an amused glance. Hyuga sighs, looking around. “Let’s get started, then-... Oi. Where’s Kuroko? Did he show up today?”

They all turn to me, seeing as I’m the only one here who can keep eyes on him. So they follow my gaze, jumping to see Kuroko among them, Nigou at his feet. “I’m not skipping, captain.”

Startled, Hyuga jumps back a bit. “R-Right.”

Riko giggles, not looking at me as she speaks. “You know, I was honestly worried about them, [Name]-chan, but they seem to be doing just fine.”

I nod with a small smile. “Well, they’re obviously determined to get better. That’s why I love this team.”

“Even Kuroko-kun seems to be doing better,” Riko adds softly, watching the bluette as he plays in the scrimmage.

My smile wavers as I watch Kuroko; it didn't take long for me to notice Kuroko's relapse in confidence. Once I began mentioning this to Hyuga, the captain informed me if the exchange of words the phantom player shared with Kagami in the locker rooms after the Touou game while I was attending other business. No wonder his game is off. Even in class he’s been acting rather distraught. So when Izuki passes him the ball, I’m not too shocked when he fails to make a successful pass, the ball flying between Mitobe and Tsuchida. “Well…”

Riko sighs knowingly, aware of how hard the Touou loss impacted Kuroko. “Of course he isn’t…”

“They all tried their absolute hardest, but we still didn’t make it to the Inter-High,” I fold my arms. “It’s expected they feel defeated. It’s too much for us to expect them to bounce back so quickly after such a devastating loss. We need to give them time to recover… But a couple of inspiring words from their amazing coach at the end of practice wouldn’t hurt.”

She smirks at me, getting the hint. “You’re right. I’ll think of something.”

Therefore, during their next water break, Riko calls for a small team meeting. The guys all gather around her; everyone but Kagami, who opted on not showing up to practice until he completes his two weeks of mandatory rest. Riko folds her arms, smiling wickedly. “Do you remember what you all said when you first joined the team?”

They all gulp, recalling how Riko had every single one of them announce their ambitions to the entire student body, threatening to strip them naked in front of the girl they fancy if they fail to achieve them. I will forever feel so unfortunate for not arriving to Japan soon enough in order to have seen such a magnificent initiation, despite it being a mild form of hazing. Furihata gasps. “She wasn’t serious, was she...?”

Riko smiles in amusement, hands on her hips. “You won’t want to lose the next one. You know why? Winter’s going to be very cold, and stripping naked to confess to your love wouldn’t be very comfortable in that weather. After all, the best high school is determined at the summer Inter-High. Then there’s the Winter Championship! The biggest and final tournament to announce the year’s strongest team. The Winter Cup! That’s where we’ll put it all on the line!”

Hyuga gulps, eyes wide behind his glasses. “If we don’t win the championship title this winter, she’ll really strip us naked…”

They all turn to look at Riko for confirmation, and she giggles innocently, yet menacingly. Koga groans, knowing she is very well serious. “But isn’t the Winter Cup the same level as the Inter-High?”

“Yes, we’ll be playing at the same level,” Riko nods before turning to face the captain. “By the way, Hyuga-kun. Teppei should be coming home soon.”

Hyuga narrows his eyes, arms folded but still rather surprised by the news. “What? Really?”

As the second years grin madly, the first years glance at one another in perplexion. “Um, who’s Teppei-san?”

Izuki places a hand on his waist. “He’s No. 7, our ace.”

After practice, all the guys head home and I make my way to clean up the gym before locking up. However, I hesitate when I hear the sound of a basketball being dribbled inside. Sneaking inside, I peer through the doors to see Kuroko, changed back into his school uniform in front of the basket. The lights are dim, but there’s no mistaking his blue hair. I frown as I watch him dribble; he’s going through so much right now. I can tell he feels absolutely defeated after Touou. I feel selfish for letting him comfort me after that game.

I’m about to head into the gym to advise him to go home and get some rest when I stop abruptly. I have to muffle my gasp with my hand as I watch him try to take a jump shot. Of course he misses, but to see him want to improve in anything other than his passing ability strikes a chord with me. His shooting, no less? It's moving.

The ball rolls a couple meters of way towards the door on the opposite side of the gym, where Nigou pants happily. And I quickly discover it’s because someone’s crouched over him, scratching the puppy behind his ears. It seems Kuroko hadn’t noticed him either, watching as he palms the ball from the floor with his giant hand. The mysterious guy laughs, finally looking up at Kuroko from where he kneels across the gym. “I guess what they say about dogs resembling their owners is true after all.”

Kuroko remains silent, staring at him tentatively, expression lacking emotion.

The new guy finally stands, and I gape at how massive he is. Eyes glowing gold for a couple seconds, I scan him from my hiding place. He’s 6’4 with an impressive wingspan, weighing in at about 179 lbs. His brown hair and molten chocolate eyes are easy to get lost in when they’re paired with his warm smile. “It seems everything I heard about you is true, then. You really can’t do much but pass. But who cares? I like your basketball.”

As he tosses the ball back to Kuroko, the bluette catches it and finally speaks. “Who are you?”

By now, I’ve figured out who he is. He’s the only second year who had been missing the day that I had arrived in Tokyo. The only one I had data on who had not been present. The creator of the Seirin Basketball Team last year in his first year of high school.

The large second year smiles. “Kiyoshi Teppei.”

Kuroko blinks as Kiyoshi munches on a sugary snack. “Um, is there something you want?”

Kiyoshi grins down at him, nearly a foot taller than Kuroko. “You’re interesting. After all, basketball is about generalists; five players who have mastered the generic skills there are for basketball. That isn’t always enough, however, so sometimes teams keep a specialist as their sixth man. It’s extraordinary to specialize so thoroughly in one single thing. Like you with your passing. Yet, here you are, practicing something you have no skill in.”

Kuroko sighs, looking away. “What I was doing before wasn’t working.”

Humming, Kiyoshi raises his hands, indicating Kuroko pass him the ball. The bluette obliges, watching the tale male make a smooth layup on the net. “Well, aren’t you the one assuming that where you’re at right now is your limit? It’s impressive you can look at yourself so objectively and play in that way.”

Seeing Kuroko’s eyes so wide after Kiyoshi tells him this, I decide he’s in good hands with the second year. Smiling smalley, I leave the keys on the peg by the door, hoping they’ll remember to lock up once they leave. After all, I don’t want to interrupt.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

As soon as the bell rings for last period to end, Hinata bolts through the halls, weaving through bystanders in order to beeline for the gym. Coach Ukai granted them the day off of practice, seeing as they only faced the crushing loss yesterday. However, he doesn’t care. There’s nowhere else he’d rather be at this moment than standing inside that gym, asking Kageyama to throw him another toss. He can’t stand it any longer. He has to be in there, soaring above the net and a volleyball snug in his palm for just the millisecond it hovers in the air as he spikes it.

And much to his surprise, as he runs up to the entrance of the gym, he can hear the sound of a single volleyball, repeatedly being hit against a wall. Panting to catch his breath, Hinata slowly slides the doors open, somewhat taken aback by the sight of Kageyama, already inside and volleying a ball against the wall, over and over again. He stops with wide eyes upon noticing the ginger’s entrance, catching the ball with two hands to look at him.

No words are spoken between the pair as Hinata tosses his school bag aside, approaching Kageyama, both still in uniform. Standing a couple meters apart, Kageyama tosses the ball towards Hinata, and they begin setting it back and forth silently.

This goes on for a while before Kageyama winds up and spikes it down at Hinata with a grunt. The latter adjusts to receive it back to Kageyama in order for the ravenette to continuously spike it back again. Frustration swelling, Kageyama growls as he hits an especially hard one, the ball ricocheting off of Hinata’s wrists and bouncing across the floor.

They both watch as it rolls away. “Crouch lower…”

Kageyama’s voice is soft. Hinata doesn’t even look him in the eye. “Right…”

As Hinata jogs over to the ball, kneeling down to retrieve it, he stops, closing his eyes. “The finals will be wrapping up by now…”

Kageyama gazes at the ball cart. “Yeah.”

Hinata picks up the ball. “The winners proceed to the Nationals. The winners get to play a lot of games. The winners get to stand on the court…”

Kageyama’s eyes narrow, fists clenching. “Yeah…”

And Hinata snaps, throwing the ball as hard as he could across the gym as he lets a roar of agony escape his throat. “GODDAMMIT!”

Kageyama’s breath hitches, eyes wide as he watches Hinata sprint laps around the entire gymnasium, yelling at the top of his lungs as he does so in order to exert all the pent up frustration he’s been holding in all day at school. The ravenette bites his lip, his eyes beginning to water as he watches Hinata jump up and dangle from the railings of the balcony above, legs flailing as he continues to yell.

Fists clenched, he can’t hold it in much longer, either. “S-Shit…”

He goes through every single volleyball in the court, hitting them across the gym with all of the strength he could possibly put behind each swing. His vision goes white, all the anger that has been festering within him easing ever so slightly every time his hand made contact. By the time the cart is empty, his palm is stinging, his shoulder aching, and his throat raw, tears threatening to fall. He yells at himself, not satisfied with the frustration he still harbors inside. As Hinata runs around the top balcony, he takes laps around the entire gym, both of them screaming as they go.

This goes on for what feels like an eternity to the two, for neither of them stop running and shouting until they physically collapse, unable to take it any longer. Hinata faceplants the gym floor, panting heavily as Kageyama tumbles onto the floor, rolling over and propping his legs up against the wall as his chest heaves with every breath.

As the two silently recover, Hinata’s the first to finally move again, biting his lip as he lightly pounds a fist against the floor, voice cracking. “I want to win…”

Kageyama glances at the boy, sobbing before him, as he struggles not to cry himself. “I will never apologize again… I will never make a toss I need to apologize for ever again!”

The two wipe their tears as they glare at one another; neither harbors anger towards the other, however. Instead, they glare in determination to improve one another. Just as they’re both finally beginning to recover their lungs, the doors to the gym slide open slowly, and both of their heads snap towards the entrance to see who it is.

They gasp at the sight of the foreign school uniform, [H/C] rustling softly in the summer breeze. “Only the strong get to stand on the court. So, do you two dorks really think you have the time to waste here, crying on the floor…?”

“[N-Name]-san!” Hinata stumbles to his feet, tears threatening to fall again as he looks at her with wide eyes. Unable to control himself, he clumsily runs over to her, throwing himself onto her in an embrace, clutching her uniform jacket as he sobs into her shoulder, standing on his tiptoes to do so. “[N-Name]-san, we lost….”

His body wracks in sobs as she places a gentle hand on the back of his head, fingers sifting through his fiery tresses. “Yeah. Me, too…”

Kageyama had also gotten up, but didn’t run over to her nor began crying again. He refused to show such signs of weakness in front of the girl before him, still somewhat mad at her for leaving so suddenly after Golden Week. He overlooks this, however, after she says this, his steel blue eyes wide. “Your basketball team…?”

Though she smiles at him, when her eyes flicker up to his, he can sense the deep sadness within them. “We lost in the championship match. The team that beat us is going on to finals.”

Hinata sniffs, retreating from her comforting hold as he wipes any remaining tears from his bloodshot eyes, backing up to stand beside Kageyama to face her. “W-Why did you come out all this way, [Name]-san?”

“To see how you guys are doing, of course,” she chuckles softly, a sad smile gracing her chapped lips. “My boys are feeling a bit defeated at the moment, but they’re already working their asses off to redeem themselves in the Winter Tournament later this year. Preliminaries begin in the fall, so there isn’t much time, but they’re determined. As should you guys be. I assume Karasuno will be competing in the Spring Tournament, yes?”

The two glance at one another before nodding sternly. “Yes!”

She beams. “Then there’s no time to waste. Where’s the rest of the team?”

“We have today off,” Hinata explains softly.

[Name] arches a brow. “Then explain why you two are here? No way the rest of them won’t show up themselves-...”

As if her words predict the future, the gym doors slide open behind her, revealing Kiyoko, followed by the five second years. Then enter Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, the third years not too long after. It takes them all a minute to notice the extra presence in the room.

“....[NAME]-SAN!” Tanaka and Nishinoya are first to realize, sprinting over to the girl and diving on top of her. The sheer weight of the two boys together is more than enough to flatten her onto the ground with the second years on top of her, barraging her with compliments and greetings after so long. “We’ve missed you!”

She giggles, rubbing both of their heads as she hastily pushes them off of her. “I’ve missed you dorks, too, Tanaka-senpai. Noya-senpai.”

As the two are left to daydream about [Name] calling them ‘senpai’ after so long, said girl approaches Daichi, a stern expression on her face. The captain looks down at her, patting her head soothingly. “I heard about Seirin’s loss in the championship round. I’m sorry, [Last Name]-san.”

Her smile is convincing, but still reflects her sorrow. “No need to apologize. We’ll make sure to make ourselves known in the Winter Cup this year. How about you guys? You gonna let the Inter-High tournament be your demise?”

Suga’s brows furrow. “Of course not. We’re going to the Spring Nationals!”

[Name] grins at his tenacity. “Seeing as you’re all here, let’s not waste another second. I’ll be your coach until that lousy Ukai shows up.”

Asahi blinks. “But, [N-Name]-san, he’s the one who gave us the day off in the first place. Why would he come?”

She smirks, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Oh, trust me. He’ll come.”

About half an hour later, due to the sound of volleyballs and shoes against the polished floors of the gym, Ukai peeks in through the doors, which had been left ajar in order to allow entry to the gentle summer breeze. His eyes widen before the sight he beholds. [Name] stands on the platform that he usually does during receiving drills, standing in her school uniform with the sleeves rolled up and her hair loosely tied back at the base of her head. She spikes balls for the team to receive, lined up at the far end of the court. Not a single player is absent. Perfect attendance to a practice that had been called off…

Ukai can barely believe his eyes, jaw hanging slack.

“Ah, there you are, Keishin-kun,” [Name]’s the first to greet.

“Afternoon, coach!” the team follows suit quickly thereafter.

He can’t but laugh as he ambles inside. “Damn, you guys seem to be doing just fine!”

“Yeah, and this time, you’re the one that’s late,” [Name] mocks with a shiteating smirk, tossing him a volleyball. “They’re just about to begin spiking drills. I think it’s about time you do your job as coach and throw yourself into it, don’t you?”

“Please coach us through the Spring Tournament!” Daichi pleads, bowing before the man, bidding the rest of the team to do the same.

“You lousy shits,” he grins, raking a hand through his hair. “Let’s get started.”

So [Name] allows Ukai to take over as she assists Kiyoko in whatever she could possibly need help with. [Name] gawks at the new solid black banner that hangs from the railings above, reading ‘飛ぶ ‘ or ‘fly’ in white kanji. She compliments it over and over again, biting her lip when she feels a bit inclined as manager of her basketball team to do something similar. But seeing as Seirin is such a new school, having only been opened last year, they haven’t really earned themselves a title in any sports or slogans to go with them. [Name] can’t help but want to do something about it.

She glances over as Nishinoya performs a very successful rolling receive, getting the ball up to Tsukishima to feint over the net for a point. Hinata showers Nishinoya with compliments, who goes on yelling something about ‘Rolling Thunder’. [Name] giggles at the name he’s given the rather basic receive, finding his cackling to be adorable; he does pull the most simple receives off in the most flashy way, she supposes. As long as it gets the job done and keeps the ball in play, who cares what he decides to call it?

The stamina and endurance that the Karasuno volleyball team yields is unreal. Six sets in and Hinata asks Kageyama to throw him a couple tosses before they clean up, to which the ravenette immediately inclines. The short middle blocker glances [Name]’s way, eyes twinkling.

“[Name]-san!” he calls over to her.

“Hm?” she meets his gaze, tossing a ball back into the cart. “What is it, Hina-chan?”

A couple of the team members share glances with one another, new to the nickname [Name]’s gifted the redhead. Hinata seems rather used to it by now, however, no longer a blushing and stuttering mess when she refers to him as such. “Could you set up a couple tosses for Kageyama? You know, just throw him the ball?”

She smiles sweetly at the request, brushing some hair out of her face before jogging over. “Sure.”

“Here,” Kageyama nonchalantly pushes the cart towards her, wiping some sweat from his brow with the cuff of his shirt.

Just as [Name] is about to toss him the first ball, labored breathing can be heard approaching the gym. Everyone stops what they’re doing in order to see who it could be. None other than Takeda bounds up the small steps to get into the gym, clumsily tripping over himself on the last stair.

Ukai deadpans. “Y-You okay, teach?”

Takeda doesn’t answer, barely having caught his breath. “We’re going, right!?

“Going where?” Hinata asks.

“Your nose is bleeding!” Kageyama exclaims.

Takeda simply straightens his glasses and holds up a small post-it note with a couple of words scrawled onto it. “Tokyo!”

“T-Tokyo…?” Hinata breathes, everyone gasping. “That means…”

“Nekoma!” 

As the boys begin chattering with excitement, [Name] smiles, clearly amused as she pulls a tissue out of her bag. She begins to clean Takeda’s bloody nose, causing him to flush in a bit of embarrassment as he continues to talk to the boys. “Yes, but this time, we won’t just be practicing with Nekoma. The Fukurodani Academy Camp; it involves a group of schools from the Kanto region, which includes Nekoma. They practice with each other all the time. But now, thanks to Coach Nekomata making arrangements for us, Karasuno’s been invited to participate in their practice matches this summer!”

The guys are really getting hyped up now, and Ukai has to rile them down a bit. “Groups like that are created through deep relationships built over the years, so it isn’t easy to get in without any connections. We ought to make sure we thank Coach Nekomata. And your teacher here, who probably had to ask over and over again on the phone in order to make this happen.”

Takeda’s eyes widen as everyone looks at him, [Name] still wiping some blood that he smeared off of his cheek. “N-No, I didn’t, really! Coach Ukai’s reputation had a lot to do with it, if I’m being honest-...”

Before he can finish his excuse, the entire team bows to him, thanking him loudly. [Name] smirks, crumpling up the blood tissue in her hand. “C’mon, sensei, take a compliment, would you? You deserve to be thanked every once in a while. It’s also exciting to think about how you all will be coming to Kanto. My school is in that prefecture, too.”

This seems to be a bit more exciting news for Karasuno than [Name], however, being in the same prefecture as her for over a week. 

With a small blush, he smiles. “Over the years, we’ve lost our connections with other schools in the prefecture that we were once close with. Many of the coaches who knew former Coach Ukai well have been transferred to other schools. We shouldn’t pass up this opportunity! This is our chance to establish connections again!”

Suga is the first to cheer, followed by the others. [Name]’s unsure of what it is they’re all yelling about, but she can’t hold back a grin nonetheless. She can’t help but feel happy for the boys; they all seem so excited. Even Kageyama cracks a smile, a glint of determination in his usually cold eyes. Nothing to show for stubborn Tsukishima, however.

“Ah, but the prelims for their prefecture for the Inter-High tournament don’t start until this weekend, so the camp won’t be for a while,” Takeda quickly explains. “We may have received the invitation, but there are a lot of little details that still need to be taken care of and people we need to get permission from. We’ll talk about all that later. For now, I assume the Karasuno Volleyball Club wishes to attend?”

“Of course!” Daichi answers for everyone as captain.

Grinning, Takeda blinks and checks his watch, gasping at the time. “Damn! I’ve got a staff meeting to attend, so excuse me! I’ve got to get going. Ukai-kun, I leave the rest to you. Oh, and it was nice seeing you again, [Last Name]-san.”

With that, he jogs off back towards the building, this time not tripping and falling over his own two feet. [Name] smiles. “I think it’s about time I get going, too. I’ve got a lot on my plate recently, but I couldn’t stay home after hearing about you guys. I’m glad to see you’re all still in good shape.”

Suddenly, a weight nearly knocks her over, and she looks down to see Nishinoya on his knees, clutching her side and hugging her waist, looking up at her with his big, hazel eyes. “You’re leaving already!?”

Giggling, she ruffles his hair. “I can’t exactly stay, Noya-Senpai. We both still have school in the morning.”

Suga pries the libero off of [Name]’s waist, smiling at her apologetically for his behavior. The gentle setter then places a hand on her head. “At least we’re getting an actual ‘goodbye’ this time. Let’s be thankful she could even come in the first place.”

[Name] blushes slightly at the subtle jab, but decides to be thankful for his defense overall. Then, Tanaka pushes past and jumps on her, knocking her over and yelling. “Group hug!”

Nishinoya is quick on board, followed by Hinata. The other boys hesitate for a moment, and Daichi is about to scold the three for piling onto [Name], only to halt in his tracks when he hears her melodious laughter beneath them all. The sound she emits is so joyous and adorable, they decide that maybe they should join in on the hug, too. The third years and the remainder of the second years follow suit. Yamaguchi, Kageyama, and Tsukishima, however, stay put. [Name] smirks at them.

“You stubborn bastard, Kags, you were the one so bent out of shape when I left last time,” she teases, making the ravenette flush and look away stubbornly. “Now that I’m actually giving you the chance, you’re just gonna ignore it?”

Though embarrassed, he didn’t budge, folding his arms and looking away. Nishinoya and Hinata won’t have it, however, respectively grabbing his wrists and yanking him forward, forcing him into the embrace. Yamaguchi groans softly, wanting to join the hug himself, but he refuses to do anything Tsukishima might not approve of, so he stays put. All the bespectacled blond does is scoff, scowling at all of his teammates dog piling a singular girl. His eyes soften behind his glasses, although, at her wide smile.

[Name] hums blissfully, teasingly ruffling Kageyama’s hair as he’s shoved down into the pile, biting her lip. “I’ll miss you guys…”

After a minute or so, they all file off of her, Asahi helping her back onto her feet. She straightens out her skirt and fixes her hair a bit by tossing a lock of it over her natural part, making it appear a bit more wild and carefree, which suits her smile as she flashes them her pearly whites. Crouching down a bit, she grabs the strap over her bag and throws it over her shoulder with a small grunt. She waves to them as she heads out the door, [H/L] hair swaying behind her in the gentle breeze, and they all see her off as she goes.

“Bye, [Name]-san…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really disappointed with my storytelling in this fic. Like I understand it's following the original storyline, so there isn't much for me to come up with, but I just feel like my writing on this website doesn't reflect my storytelling capabilities at all. I'm so lackadaisical in my writing for this and it's embarrassing. In no way am I going to abandon it; I'm way too stubborn for that shit lmao. You actually might've noticed that I've been going through past chapters and revising them drastically because I hate how sloppily written that are. But I do think that once I eventually finish this particular story, I might rewrite one that doesn't follow the original storyline. That way, I can give myself more creative freedom to do whatever I want and express my true skills >:) 
> 
> Thanks for listening to me rant yet again love you guys lol


	16. Limits

After two weeks have passed, Kagami’s legs have healed and he returns for his first day back at practice. Of course everyone is glad to see him when he shows up, though, Kagami seems rather indifferent. After a good grueling from Hyuga, who was irked that Kagami wasn’t showing up to practice to at least be there despite being injured, another looming tall figure walks into the gym, a goofy grin planted on his face.

Kiyoshi Teppei stands dressed in his full uniform, hands on his hips. “Let’s practice!”

As Riko deadpans at the male beside me, I snicker, covering my mouth to conceal my amusement. The rest of the team isn’t as skillful in hiding their reactions. Koga also deadpans. “G-Good to see you, Kiyoshi-kun.”

“Yeah,” Izuki agrees between wheezes of laughter.

Hyuga’s the loudest about his reaction, stalking over and shaking Kiyoshi by the collar. “Why the hell are you wearing your uniform, bastard?”

Kiyoshi merely shrugs. “I’ve been stuck in the hospital since last summer going through countless surgeries and therapy. You can’t blame me for being excited to return to basketball, Hyuga-kun. Oh, are these the first years? Hello, everyone. My name’s Kiyoshi Teppei, 193 centimeters, 81 kilos, and second year. My position is center. Nice to meet you all.”

Riko smiles up at the very tall player. “Teppei, you’re sure you’re completely healed?”

He beams down at her height. “Completely.”

And seeing as I am standing beside her, this is the moment he first notices me. He blinks, eyes wide as he tries to process who I am. Riko rolls her eyes at his cluelessness, introducing me. “This is [Last Name][Name]. She’s our manager.”

“Oh, another first year,” Kiyoshi grins, holding his large hand out to me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, [Last Name]-san. Thank you for being a part of the team. The more the merrier, right?”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I chirp, smiling sweetly as I allow him to engulf my tiny hand in his giant palm and shake it. “Feel free to call me [Name], by the way. It’s an honor to finally be meeting you, Kiyoshi-senpai.”

Hyuga, still irritated to the max, wacks Kiyoshi over the head. “Go change into some normal clothes, you idiot!”

Kiyoshi complies to Hyuga’s order, coming back into the gym while the team has just completed warming up, changed into a pink t-shirt and white shorts instead of the full uniform. Everyone turns towards him as he puts his hands on his hips, obviously having come up with something to say while in the lockers. “I just wanted to say I’m putting my future career on the line to play this year, so of course I’m very serious about playing and winning. My goal is, of course-... Where is it?”

Everyone deadpans at the question, Izuki nearly floored. “Our sights are on the Winter Cup, right now…”

Kiyoshi nods. “And where is that this year?”

“Tokyo!” Hyuga exclaims as I begin chortling into my hand, very amused by our new player. “Where it’s held every year!”

Kawohara deadpans. “This is the guy who created the Seirin Basketball team?”

He shrugs. “Nevertheless, where it is doesn’t really matter. If you’re going to climb a mountain, you’ve got to aim for the top; but let’s not forget to enjoy the scenery along the way.”

I grin goofily, folding my arms and nodding. “I like this guy.”

Hyuga groans, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Just give it a week, [Name]-san, and you won’t be saying stupid shit like that in my presence anymore.”

With a snort, I chuck an empty water bottle at the captains head teasingly. “You have the audacity to call me stupid? I’m sorry, but who busts their ass researching every single player on every single team that we play in the tournament and comes up with individual strategies against each one? ‘Cuz I don’t think it’s you, Jun-senpai.”

As if he wasn’t already irritated enough, I think I might’ve pushed him over the edge with that. Hyuga growls and clenches his fists as I giggle nervously, getting ready to run as he chases after me. “Get back here, you little first year! You have absolutely no right!”

“Oi, Hyuga! Captains are supposed to be more respectful to their managers,” Izuki calls after us tiredly.

“I agree with Izu-chan!” I cackle, squealing as I just barely jump out of arm’s reach when Hyuga swipes at me. It seems those intense footwork drills I’ve been forcing him through are backfiring on me, though, because he nimbly pounces just the right distance to snatch me around my waist and lift me off the ground, and I burst into nervous giggles and squeals. “Ah! Jun-senpai! Set me down, set me down!”

“Not until after you apologize for disrespecting me as captain,” he orders, half-serious half-teasing, as he hooks me under one arm and ruffles up my hair aggressively. 

“As if! My job is superior!” I decide to push further while attempting to pry his hand from my scalp.

He stops momentarily, chuckling lowly. “Oh, now you’ve asked for it!”

As he begins to even more aggressively tease my head of hair into knots, Riko rolls her eyes and kicks the captain in the back, ending our quarrel with impressive efficiency. “Stop fucking around with our manager, moron, and start practice already. You are the captain, after all!”

Incapable of ignoring orders from his coach, Hyuga leaves me to detangle my new hairdo as he begrudgingly divides teams for a quick scrimmage at the beginning of practice. As I stand beside Riko, painfully raking a comb through my hair, there’s something very different about this practice. I know it’s Kagami’s first day back, but it’s not even that. It’s the fact that Kagami is playing in this scrimmage the same way he did versus Shutoku; completely by himself. I don’t think I’ve seen him pass once. The only points he’s made have been by driving into the paint and dunking into the basket.

And I’m not the only one who notices this, either. Riko frowns beside me as the other team members in the match steal concerned glances at the redhead every once in a while. Kuroko hasn’t even said a word to his light since he’s come back to practice. Now that I think about, he hasn’t spoken to him once at school either; both of which have spoken to me individually, but never directly to the other. I can’t believe I never noticed. 

While the tension between the team is very high, all eyes on the ace, one person doesn’t seem to quite sense it. “Ah, Kagami-kun. Now that I’m back, I’d really like to play soon. However, I don’t think it’s fair of me to ask to play just because I’m an upperclassman. So, why don’t we play some one-on-one for the starting position?”

Kagami scoffs softly at Kiyoshi’s proposal, but not in a gesture of disdain; it seems more respectful than that. Izuki snorts. “Man, he hasn’t changed, huh?”

Beside him, Hyuga groans. “This is why I absolutely can’t stand the guy; he always plays hard, is obsessed with basketball, acts stupid, and…. He’s always up to something.”

Having been listening in on the two captain’s conversation, I carefully move my gaze to Kagami and Kiyoshi, setting up for a quick one-on-one match for the staring position. Kiyoshi starts on the outside, Kagami dropping down to a low defensive stance as the upperclassman begins to dribble stationarily. 

Jumping into action, Kiyoshi takes a step to the left, baiting Kagami in with him before sweeping back to the right and driving for the paint. The redhead is quick to regain his balance, however, not allowing the brunet to break free from him. I can tell Kagami wasn’t expecting Kiyoshi to be as fast as he is, though, seeing as he’s about an inch taller than him, as well. As Kiyoshi takes a wide step past him and goes for the layup, Kagami lunges forward just in time to smack it away, denying the point.

Now it’s Kagami’s turn to pressure from the outside. Kiyoshi gets low and uses his large wingspan to his advantage, locking Kagami up from directly driving past. This forces Kagami to actually pull off a move rather than use pure strength to force past. I smirk at this, watching as the gears turn in Kagami’s redhead, trying to come up with the best play to get past the experienced player before him. 

After a few seconds, he seems to find his answer. Kagami jabs to the left, not bringing the ball over to the same side before Kiyoshi follows him. Once he does, Kagami switches the ball to his left and spins back to the right, leading with his left shoulder to do so. Kiyoshi’s eyes widen, not quite responding fast enough in order to prevent Kagami from breaking into the paint. However, he isn’t slow enough to catch up to him beneath the basket, jumping to block the single-handed dunk from the right. Eyes narrow, Kagami spins under Kiyoshi’s block and successfully dunks from the other side, winning the one-on-one. 

Once they’re both back on their feet, Kiyoshi turns to face his opponent with a smile, hands on his hips. “You got me. I lost. Just like I promised, you get to keep your starting position.”

Nodding respectfully, Kagami yawns and heads for the door. “I’m headed out for the day. Good work, everyone.”

At those words, I snap back to reality, about to chase after the stubborn hothead. “The hell-... Where the fuck is he going!? I didn’t hear anyone dismiss him!”

Sighing, also irritated, Hyuga faces Kiyoshi, whose stare remains locked on the exit where Kagami had just left. “What’re you thinking, Kiyoshi?”

And just like that, the brunet grins. “Man, he really is strong!”

Everyone deadpans and Riko smacks him upside the head with her clipboard. “What was the point of coming back if you’re just gonna sit on the bench, moron!?”

“Besides, that wasn’t your best. You’re acting fucking stupid, look at your feet,” Hyuga points down, everyone’s gaze following his to find that Kiyoshi never changed into basketball shoes, still sporting a pair of indoor school shoes. “Those are your indoor shoes, you moron!”

Kiyoshi blinks, his voice flat. “Oh? Didn’t notice.”

At his nonchalant tone, Hyuga begins to fume. “You lost on purpose, didn’t you!?”

Riko facepalms as I begin to giggle. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next game, new tactics. And let me tell you what those tactics are. Playing every single first year in the starting line up against a decent team without telling anyone beforehand. Genius, right?

Furihata, Fukuda, and Kawohara all tremble in their basketball shoes at the starting lineup, all facing much taller, more experienced players across from them at center court. Of course Kagami and Kuroko are used to it, but those three haven’t exactly been able to play in an official match yet, albeit a small one. So as their opponents glare at them, feeling disrespected by our team, playing them against all our non-regulars, the three fear for their lives. 

The game begins, and I, for once, get to sit back on the bench and relax, not worrying about taking notes or pacing back and forth with my clipboard. So I sit between Riko and Izuki, the latter leaning over me to talk to the former. “So, Coach, what exactly were you thinking by putting the first years into this game?”

Said girl only shrugs, nodding at Kiyoshi, sitting on her right. “He insisted on watching the first years play.”

Koga, on the other side of Izuki, gasps in realization, smirking smugly as he puts a confident finger to his chin. “Ah! I know what Kiyoshi is thinking! Recently, Kagami’s been playing pretty selfishly again. But it’s impossible to win that way! Therefore, you put him in a game with all the non-regulars to force him to realize he can’t win games on his own, right?”

Everyone looks at Kiyoshi and awaits his answer, only for him to blink and nod. “I see. That’s rather clever, Koga. You’re amazing for coming up with that.”

Hyuga deadpans beside Kiyoshi. “Then why the hell-...”

“Well, you aren’t wrong,” he leans forward, returning his focus to the game. “But do you think he’s so stupid that he wouldn’t notice if we didn’t tell him? If anything, the person who I most want to realize something about themselves during this game is Kuroko-kun.”

I frown as I watch the bluette run down the court, keeping pace with Kagami, who hasn’t passed the ball once. My concern only deepens when I think back to the brief conversation they had before the game, if it can even be called that. The first time Kagami has spoken to Kuroko in weeks, and all he had to say was ‘you don’t have to pass the ball to me anymore’. And in that moment, I could see something within Kuroko shatter. Therefore, I shift my gaze to Kiyoshi, curious as to what he has planned for the phantom first year. 

The game is played at a much slower pace than we’re usually used to, which is actually kind of refreshing, in a way. Of course I live for the high intensity when it comes to a basketball game’s atmosphere, but it’s also calming, in some weird way, for the score to only be 30-28 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And to be fair, the first years are doing much better than I expected. Kuroko is working well with the three non-regulars; I even notice he’s adapted the pace of his passing to accommodate their more cautious playing style. However, I must admit that even though it’s chill to see such a low-scoring game, I did expect the scores to be a bit higher, on either side, really.

I narrow my eyes as Kawohara passes to Kuroko, who glances at the most obvious opening to his left: Kagami. The redhead, however, isn’t even opening himself up for the pass, instead facing his mark and ignoring the bluette. Therefore, Kuroko is forced to do as Kagami told him to at the beginning of the game, changing the course of his pass to Furihata for a layup. I hum lowly to myself, leaning forward on my knees as the buzzer goes off to end the match, the resulting score adding up to 52-46 in our favor. While the first years celebrate their first ever victory, I narrow my eyes at no one in particular, glaring into space as I lose myself deep in concentration. The person to snap me out of it is Izuki, a hand on my shoulder and a slightly concerned expression shot in my direction. I smile at him gratefully, silently telling him it isn’t a big deal and is nothing to worry about, which he seems to believe. 

Later that night, I meet up at the gym with Hyuga for our regular shooting drills; he asked me to help him improve on dribbling and shooting around twice a week if possible. So we have private sessions for around an hour or two late every Tuesday and Thursday. As I heavily pressure him while he’s shooting his threes, he has to find a way to get around me if he wants to shoot. He learned very quickly that although I’m much shorter than him in stature, I’m not going to let him get the points unless he gets around me. I don’t need to block him in order to stop the shot.

During this drill, we’re interrupted by someone very unexpected. I stand up straight and look past Hyuga, who steps past me and makes the three, cheering for himself momentarily. “Finally! I made three already tonight, I’m really getting better!”

I ignore him, however, facing the doorway. “Tetsu-chan?”

Upon hearing me say this, Hyuga also follows my gaze. “Kuroko? What are you doing here so late?”

“I was actually hoping to talk to you, Hyuga-senpai, but I think it’s good [Name]-chan is here for this, too,” he approaches us quietly. “Seeing as you’re the captain, Hyuga-senpai, I wanted to talk to you about my limits.”

“Limits?” Hyuga arches a brow. “What limits?”

“Going forward, I will do nothing but hold Seirin back. I understand now that I’ve reached the limits of my potential in basketball. I can no longer improve,” Kuroko explains nonchalantly, as simply as telling a parent an average grade you’ve gotten on a test. “Therefore, I think it would be best for the team if you made Kiyoshi-senpai one of our starters in my place.”

A moment of silence follows after that, followed by a swift slap. It isn’t much, but my hand does sting a bit as a patch of red forms on Kuroko’s cheek, his eyes wide as I deadpan at him. “No offense, Tetsu, but that’s the stupidest shit I think I’ve ever heard come from your mouth.”

Hyuga nods, adjusting his glasses as he glowers at his underclassman. “You don’t come to talk to me often, Kuroko, but don’t get ahead of yourself, moron. Replace you as a starter? Think of the guys already on the bench! It’s not your place to say that! I’m the one who makes those kinds of decisions.”

Kuroko blinks, dumbfounded. “But-...”

“No!” Hyuga states firmly, hands on his hips. He then sighs, calming himself down. “You know, when we first formed the team, Kiyoshi played a heavy-handed center. He’s always been taller than the rest of us, but he was also the only one of us who could play it well. In reality, he was actually much more skilled in the position of point-guard; his ability to come up with collective plays in the middle of high-intensity play remains to be impressive to this day. However, he decided it would be more beneficial for the team if he played center; but this sparked a lot of internal conflict for him, for he felt as if he was limiting himself by playing a position he wasn’t meant to play. But one day, our team dunce Koganei suggested he just play both positions. And Kiyoshi, being the other team idiot, agreed. And it actually worked. Kiyoshi officially played center in our games, but also came up with plays and made passes as a point guard would, shifting between the two very different positions like it was nothing. Well, I suppose I’m going somewhere with this… You and Kiyoshi are very different, Kuroko, but you should be asking yourself the same question. Is how you play currently really the best you can do for yourself?”

Not only do Kuroko’s eyes widen at these words, but mine as well now as I begin to understand what Kiyoshi meant. It’s all beginning to click now. Hyuga turns to pick up a ball from the cart, facing the hoop as he adds, “He believed in you, you know. After the Touou game, Kagami met me in private for a little chat. He told me that since day one, you’re the one who always saves him, Kuroko, and now, even if only a little, he wants to better himself so that you don’t have to save him as much anymore. Geez, just how awkward is that moron? He doesn’t know how to put words into the right context when talking to anyone.”

Kuroko blinks at this information, astonished by what he’s hearing. Suddenly, he bows politely and respectfully. “Thank you, Hyuga-senpai. Good night.”

I gasp as Kuroko begins running off, and I glance back at Hyuga, who says nothing and only nods at me. I grin at him thankfully as I bolt after my fellow first year, leaving Hyuga to continue practice on his own for the remaining thirty minutes we had planned. 

“Te-chan!” I call after him, and he slows down outside the gym, glancing back at me. “I know where he is.”

He waits for me to catch up to him with a smile; this one might be the most genuine look of happiness I’ve ever seen from him. Grinning, we both sprint through the streets in our school uniforms towards the park with our favorite streetball court. The one right around the corner from Maji Burger. As we sprint past said restaurant, I notice two familiar faces dining inside, both of them watching as Kuroko and I run by, grinning madly. I wink at them sweetly, Riko and Kiyoshi's knowing eyes trailing after us through the window.

The lights around the court are dim, but the faint sounds of a basketball being dribbled on the pavement is easy to hear from the street. We both run up to find Kagami practicing by himself in his school uniform, the sleeves rolled up to stay out of the way. He doesn’t notice either of us approaching, however, seeing as he practices his dribbling with his eyes closed, working on his hand coordination by facing imaginary opponents. 

“Kagami-kun!” Kuroko calls breathlessly once we reach the court, doubling over to catch his breath after the rather long and fast-paced run. Maybe I should’ve slowed myself down a bit for his sake, but… he was just as excited as me to get here.

“Kuroko…?” Kagami opens his eyes, facing us confusedly. “[Name]?”

“Evening,” I smile, waiting for Kuroko to catch his breath, seeing as I’m not as winded as he is. “Honestly, pretend I’m not even here. Tetsu-chan wanted to see you.”

“Hm? What is it you wanted to talk about?” Kagami walks over to us, looking down at Kuroko, who finally gathers enough breath to stand up straight. 

“Well, I haven’t exactly gathered all of my thoughts, yet. [Name]-chan and I ran over here as fast as we could,” he admits softly. “Can you give me a moment to think of the right words?”

As Kagami groans in annoyance, I can’t help but snicker in amusement. “You had so much time to think while on the way over here, Tetsu-chan.”

He looks at me blankly. “Well, all I was thinking about was how hard it was to keep up with you, [Nickname]-chan. You were running so fast.”

“Oi!” Kagami demands attention is back on him, tossing Kuroko the basketball he had just been dribbling with. The bluette barely reacts in time to catch it, but does so successfully. “I’ve got nothing to do while I wait for you to think something up. One of you at least play against me.”

A bit desperately, Kuroko gives me a glance. “It’s hard to think when Kagami-kun is completely destroying me one-on-one.”

I smirk, taking the ball from him and rolling up my sleeves. “No worries. It’s hard for Taiga to think while he’s playing me, too.”

“Shut up,” he rolls his eyes, getting into a defensive stance as I tease him a bit more. “Don’t you dare fucking go easy on me, either, you brat.”

I arch a brow. “Taiga, you know I grew up with streetball in America, too? If you wanted to play against someone who plays like Aomine does, you should’ve just asked.”

Eyes flashing gold in the moonlight, I perform the exact same spin move Aomine pulled on Kagami during the Touou game, leaving the redhead on the ground as I make a smooth layup. He looks up at me, baffled. “Hey, isn’t that the same shit Aomine pulled during our match…?”

“Yup,” I answer, offering him my hand to help him back up.

“You can remember moves and perform them the exact same?” Kagami asks, almost stupefied. “Like Kise?”

I laugh. “No. I could never be on the same level of evolution as Ryoutacchi is. For example, no matter how many times I watch you dunk or Mido-kun’s shot, I will never be able to copy it. When it comes to Aomine, however, I already know how to perform the majority of the moves he likes to use in games. Therefore, I can remember them and repeat them. I’m not really copying them after seeing them for the first time like Ryoutacchi does.”

“Oh. I guess that makes sense. With your eyes and all,” Kagami sighs, irritated he still can’t do anything against me in a one-on-one. “But you’re right. I guess it would be beneficial for me to play more against you. Though, I didn’t know you’re style leaned closer to streetball than conventional. Isn’t that what you played in America? Like a standard D1 high school team and stuff?”

“Well, yes. Professionally, I played conventional basketball on a national team,” I nod, crouching down as I scoop up the ball from the ground. “Growing up, however, I learned to play basketball on the Venice Beach courts with all of my dad’s friends. Both my brother and I went to play basketball with adult strangers nearly everyday. So although I can play in a more conventional setting, holding back from performing some standard mocking moves and crosses, I grew up playing like that. You have to admit, it’s more fun when you can play a friend and tease each other while doing it.”

“Venice Beach, huh? That’s pretty legit. Hardcore for a kid. I played streetball a lot, too, but never there. I’d like to try it some time,” Kagami admits softly. Suddenly, Kuroko steps up to us, looking at Kagami. The redhead meets his gaze, his eyes a lot softer than the usual hard glare. “Kuroko. When I first played you on this very court, I thought you were an idiot for trying to play basketball in high school. I thought you were too weak; I told you that you should quit. It wasn’t until late that I realized what you could really do, and I was blown away. So why did you choose me?”

Kuroko blinks. “I’m sorry. I lied to you. I received the uniform as a sixth man.”

Kagami arches a brow. “You were the trump card of the Generation of Miracles. I know that already.”

“That’s not quite right,” Kuroko shakes his head, confusing Kagami and me both. “While they may have believed in me, they did not trust me. I joined the bench as their sixth man in my second year of middle school. Back then, I believed they did trust me. But as their talents began blossoming as Aomine-kun’s did, they abandoned their faith in me very quickly. The Generation of Miracles began placing their trust in themselves over everyone else. If we were one point behind with only a few seconds left in a game, they would not pass. So, the truth its, it didn’t have to be you. I simply wanted to find anyone I could in order to force the Generation of Miracles to recognize my style of basketball. That is why I’m sorry. Because I lied to you.”

Kagami closes his eyes, sighing. “I was wondering what you were gonna say. And to be honest, I had a feeling it would be something like that. Everyone plays basketball for their own reasons, so don’t worry about it. I’m not any different-...”

“No!” Kuroko interjects, his voice clearer than before as he glares up at the ace, fists clenched. “Kagami-kun, you are different. In all of our games so far, you have trusted me. And back in the locker rooms, after the Touou game-... I misunderstood our conversation. Those weren’t parting words you left me with, but words meant to help me recognize that we should stop relying on one another so much. That we must become even stronger in our individual pursuits. So we can combine our improved individual strengths to win. So allow me to correct myself: I am glad I go to Seirin. All our seniors are wonderful people, as well as our first year classmates who work alongside us. We have a coach that knows what’s best for our team and a manager who is extremely intelligent and reliable. And I am Seirin High first year, Kuroko Tetsuya. My goal is not to make you, Kagami Taiga, the best in Japan. My goal is to improve my style of basketball and with everyone else, become the best in Japan! That’s why I will become even stronger and defeat the Generation of Miracles.”

“That was my goal all along, dumbass. And you’ve got it wrong again,” Kagami tosses Kuroko the ball, who instinctively sets him up for their signature alley-oop, which Kagami slams in with ease. “You don’t say you want to be the best in Japan, moron. You say we are going to become the best in Japan!”

Kuroko smiles up at him, the moonlight clear in the night sky. “Right.”

Biting my lip, I beam at the two, who I think might’ve forgotten I was here during all that. They turn to face me, silently waiting for me to add something. My smile is bright. “Milkshakes?”

“Yes, please,” Kuroko begins following me as I lean down and pick up Kagami’s basketball bag, waiting for him to accept the offer. Rolling his eyes, he yanks the bag from me and stuffs his basketball inside, walking alongside me. 

“I can’t exactly let you two walk alone this late at night,” he grumbles, pushing a hand through his slightly sweaty tresses. “If something were to happen to you, [Name], Kuroko sure as hell wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.”

I snort as Kuroko reacts as he usually does; with no reaction at all. I shrug. “You don’t have to worry, Taiga. I’ve trained plenty in self-defense while in America, so I can take care of myself. But, I have to admit-...”

Arching the brow at the tone of my voice, shifting from amused to light and soft, Kagami looks down at me. “Admit what?”

I hug his arm teasingly. “It’s so sweet of you to worry about me like that!”

“Fuck off, [Name], let me go,” he growls, prying me off of his forearm as I snicker at his frustration. He instead looks at Kuroko in order to avoid me. “Just hurry up and get stronger, Kuroko. Then, this winter, you can show me your new style of basketball.”

He smiles. “Right. But I think I might need [Name]-chan’s help in order to pull off what I had in mind.”

My interest peaks after those words, and I move from annoying Kagami to Kuroko in seconds. “What’s this? You have something in mind? And you didn’t tell me sooner? I always carry blank binders in my bag, Tetsu-chan. We can start now if you want. I’m ready to start now. I can get working on whatever it is at the restaurant. Oh, this is so exciting-...”

“Shut up, you moron!” Kagami exclaims in annoyance, slapping his very large hand over my mouth in order to keep me from rambling any further, which Kuroko seemed to be very amused by my enthusiasm. “And you have the nerve to call me a basketball head after you act like that? Unbelievable.”

“Well, I’m the only one of us three who doesn’t really get to play anymore, so I’m allowed to get excited over big changes like this!” I snap back with a grin after prying his hand off from over my lips. “Besides, who wouldn’t be this enthusiastic!? I’m going to ensure you both improve as much as you can with the time we have left before the Winter Cup. You can count on me!”

With his small smile, Kuroko holds a fist bump out to me. “We know we can, [Nickname]-chan.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of your job as manager to make sure we can depend on you,” Kagami rolls his eyes, but also gives into a smug smile as he, too, offers me a fist bump. “I may tease you a lot, [Name], but I will always trust you to have our backs.”

“Always,” Kuroko agrees with a nod.

Grinning from ear-to-ear, I fist bump them simultaneously, my heart rate speeding up rapidly as I grow more and more excited by the second. “Aww, you guys! You know what? Milkshakes and burgers are on me.”

“Yeah, obviously,” Kagami scoffs teasingly. “That’s the only reason I’m coming. I don’t have the kind of money to buy the twenty burgers I’m craving right now.”

Kuroko sighs. “Kagami-kun, you’re coming off as a gold digger, you know.”

“Yeah, you are kind of a mooch, Taiga,” I pout. “And here I was thinking you wanted to hang out with us because we’re your best friends. But no, you just want me for my money…”

“Will the both of you cut the shit? I’m tired of you two always ganging up on me,” Kagami rolls his eyes as Kuroko and I snicker with one another on the way into Maji Burger, where we’d come up with new improvements to either boy’s playing style over burgers and milkshakes until closing time and we’re kicked back out for the rest of the night.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Skipping down the hallways jubilantly, I hum to myself as I carry a stack of heavy books towards the library. Turning the corner a bit too sharply, I bump into the back of someone, gasping as all the books fall to the floor in a clatter. Not even bothering to look who it was that I ran into, I bow apologetically. 

“Please forgive me! I wasn't looking where I was going!” I apologize quickly before kneeling down on the floor and beginning to gather all the books.

“No problem. [Last Name]-san, was it?” I look up to see Kiyoshi smiling down at me warmly.

“K-Kiyoshi-senpai!” my eyes widen. “Forgive me, this is my first time actually seeing you at school. A-And yes, but feel free to call me [Name]!”

“[Nickname]-chan?” Izuki peers around Kiyoshi as the center crouches down to help me gather the books. “What’re you doing in the second-year hall way?”

I thank Kiyoshi as he hands me the last of the books. “Well, it’s my free period right now, and sometimes I spend it running errands for the teachers and stuff. Kind of like being an aide without taking a class out of my schedule for it. I was just running these down to the library for Okumura-sensei.”

“Typical,” Izuki chuckles before taking the top half of the stack off of my pile. “I’ll help.”

“Thanks, Izu-chan,” I beam. 

Koganei, Tsuchida, and Mitobe are also around the corner, appearing very nervous. The former grabs Izuki’s sleeve, tugging him over and pointing down the hall, where Riko and Hyuga are walking side-by-side, discussing something. I join the boys in spying on them. “What’s going on-....”

“Shhh!” Koga hushes me quickly, implying I listen. 

“I was thinking, maybe we should take the team to the beach for summer vacation this year. Conditioning on the sand would be very beneficial,” Riko suggests.

Uninterested, Hyuga nods, gazing out the windows as they walk. “Sure.”

“Hmm, or maybe the mountains,” Riko quickly changes her mind. “I can have you do a lot more stamina and foot drills there…”

“Sounds good,” Hyuga grunts once again.

Riko huffs. “Are you even listening to me!?”

He hums. “I don’t care where we go, as long as we can train really hard.”

The second years and I deadpan at their squabble, Izuki facepalming with his free hand. “They’re arguing about what hell we’re going to go to over the summer like a couple.”

“Don’t you get to have a say in where we go, [Name]-chan?” Koga asks hopefully, not wanting the other two to decide. “You know, as manager?”

I smirk at him cruelly. “Well, I was thinking something far worse than the beach or the mountains, so I think it’s best if you let your Coach and Captain decide without my input.”

“[Nickname]-chan, you’re so cruel,” Izuki pouts before turning to head towards the library.

“But I have the team’s best interest in mind,” I chirp innocently as I follow after him. “Just hope that Riko-chan and Jun-senpai can come to a decision on one instead of compromising for both.”

Later that day, Riko announces the destination to the entire team. “This summer, we’ll be traveling as a team to the beach and the mountains!”

The second years choke on the air they breathe as I snort. “Man, they actually chose both.”

Hyuga nods beside her. “The qualifiers begin for the Winter Cup right after summer vacation ends. It’s important that we use this vacation as efficiently as possible. That being said, we don’t want to overwork everyone, so after school ends next week, we’re giving you all a couple weeks break to spend how you want it.”

“The hotel we’re renting is relatively cheap,” Riko sighs, looking at a page in her clipboard. “However, they agreed to house us all for two weeks as long as we prepare our own meals. Oh! And the plus side is that it allows pets, so maybe we’ll see some cute dogs during our stay!”

As Riko daydreams, Kuroko ponders this. “That means I can bring Nigou as well…”

Kagami winces at this statement, his red hair ruffling. “Don’t bring that mutt! He’s annoying!”

“That means I can bring Pharaoh, too,” I gasp, eyes twinkling as I turn to face Kuroko, jumping up and down out of excitement. “Our puppies can finally meet, Tetsu-chan!”

Practice goes on, but as soon as Riko excuses herself for an unexpected phone call, Hyuga stops what everyone’s doing and stands before them grimly, arms crossed.. “All right, everyone! Gather ‘round! We are currently facing grave danger. As Riko said, in order to afford making two trips this year, we were forced to choose cheap lodgings. And this is where our problem lies. During the entire duration of our training camp, Coach will be cooking for us!”

Furihata tilts his head. “Huh? Is that bad?”

Hyuga growls, pointing at the frightened first year intimidatingly. “Of course it’s bad! Even you first years saw the honey-lemons she prepared at the Touou game! All of her cooking is like that!”

Kiyoshi cringes, closing his eyes as he sighs. “I doubt it can even be called cooking at this point.”

“Eh!? It’s inedible!?” Kagami gasps in fear. 

The second years are all trembling in terror, Mitobe even clutching his heart as he thinks about the terrible meals that RIko will most likely prepare. Izuki shakes his head in disbelief. “And you already know that Coach is going to make practice so brutal that none of us will even have the ability to stand, much less cook for her.”

Koganei plants his face in his palms. “We’re gonna die…”

“Hmm… That does seem troublesome…” I sigh, putting my hands on my hips. 

Kagami gasps, grabbing my forearms and leaning down before me until we’re at the same eye level so that he can beg me. “[Name], can’t you cook instead!? Please!?”

I can’t help but smirk mockingly at him. “Are you begging me, Kagami Taiga?”

He scowls at me stubbornly, growling his next words out through clenched teeth as he squeezes my arms a bit tighter. “Just answer the fucking question…”

I sigh, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, guys, but there’s no way. I might be able to weasel my way into helping, but Riko is really looking forward to cooking for you guys. She was telling me about what kind of meals she already has prepared before practice.”

The team is floored at this news. “We’re doomed…”

Suddenly, however, I gasp, snapping my fingers. “Hang on a second… That gives me an idea!”

About an hour later, I get permission from a teacher to use one of the home ec classrooms after practice. Gathering the entire team inside, I announce that Riko is going to make a meal she has planned for the trip so that everyone can taste it and so that she can receive feedback. 

“It’s like a menu tasting!” I blurt proudly.

“A menu tasting…?” Izuki deadpans in a whisper as the entire team watches Riko work behind the counter, cutting up vegetables and preparing spices.

“Well, I couldn’t exactly just tell her she should practice because she’s bad,” I explain back in a hushed voice. “That’d crush her.”

“Ah! It’s ready! Please enjoy!” Riko announces cutely, serving us each a plate of…. Well, something. “It’s curry!”

“Curry!?” the boys all exclaim in disbelief, seeing as she included whole, nearly raw vegetables into the dish. 

“Just ignore what it looks like and tell me how it tastes!” she grins. “It’s just curry, how bad can it be?”

Everyone begrudgingly takes a seat, tentatively picking up their spoons. “T-Thank you for the meal…”

The boys all simultaneously deadpan as they take a bite, unanimously agreeing mentally that the curry is absolutely terrible. I can’t help but try to muffle laughter as I watch them, seeing as I never took a bite of mine. Hyuga glares at me from my left, noticing that I had opted not to eat it. 

“[Name], you have to take a bite to tell Coach how it tastes!” he demands lowly, angered by my amusement. “This was your idea, after all.”

I snort. “No way I’m eating that shit. Sorry.”

As no one goes to eat anymore, Riko bites her lip, frowning. “Sorry… It wasn’t very good, was it?”

She folds her hands before her apron, revealing the several bandages on her fingers due to the countless times she cut herself while making the meal. Hyuga’s eyes widen as he glares down at the full dish of unsightly curry before him. Cursing under his breath, he picks his spoon back up and continues to eat it, bravely choking back his tears with every swallow. Everyone watches with wide eyes as he quickly finishes the meal and stands, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

“Thank you for the meal. It tasted good, but it was just a little spicy,” he critiques before heading out the classroom, announcing that he, “was going to get something to drink.”

Next, Kiyoshi stands, revealing his plate to also be clean as he goes to serve himself seconds. “It wasn’t that bad. I mean, it was cooked with the most important ingredient, after all. It had love. I think you may have just gone somewhere wrong with the process of making it after that. Perhaps you should try making it again.”

Riko beams at these words, turning around again. “I’ll get right on it.”

As Izuki peers out into the hall to find Hyuga lying half-dead on the floor in disgust, Kiyoshi desperately drops his facade as he faces the rest of the team, face desperate as tears begin to fall from his eyes and sweats profusely. “Please tell me one of you can teach her how to cook right?”

“Kiyoshi-senpai, you’re sweating way too much!”

I snort once again. “Wow. That’s really how you separate the men from the boys, huh?”

To answer Kiyoshi’s question, Koga immediately whips around to his closest pal. “Mitobe can-.... Mitobe!?”

Only to find that the mute center is doubled over at his seat, resting his forehead against the table as he tries not to vomit. Tsuchida gasps. “So who the hell’s gonna teach her how to cook!?”

Koga desperately turns to me. “[N-Name]-chan?”

I shake my head. “Sorry, guys, but I don’t know much about cooking. My mother refused to let me into the kitchen when I was younger. Sometimes, when she was out, the chefs would sneak me in and teach me the basics, but that was it.”

“We’re doomed!” Koga whines.

“I can cook pretty well,” Kagami announces, displaying a bowl of curry he whipped up in minutes. “Here.”

Fukuda takes a taste. “THIS IS DELICIOUS!”

Izuki arches a brow. “I didn’t know you could cook, Kagami.”

“I lived in America for half my life. Food is a basic culture, over there,” he sighs. “Besides, I live by myself here in Japan, so I had to pick up cooking pretty quickly.”

With a determined grin, Riko steps up to him. “Kagami-kun. Teach me how to make curry!”

He looks down at her, folding his arms. “Alright, but I’m a strict teacher.”

“Bring it on!” the Coach demands. 

So, after some barking in the kitchen as Kagami watches Riko cook over her shoulder, she displays another pot of curry, dishing out beautiful portions to each member of the team. They all gasp in shock, seeing as it actually looks like decent curry this time. Riko grins confidently, arms folded. “I’m sure I nailed it this time! So dig in!”

As soon as everyone takes a spoonful, however - except me, for I know looks can be deceiving - they all cringe, the taste sending shivers of displeasure down their spine. Riko gasps in horror. “What!? What is it this time!?”

Koga nearly chokes while he forces his bite down. “I-I don’t even know… Kagami, didn’t you make it with her?”  
The redhead shrugs, scratching the back of his head in confusion. “Yeah, I did. I even tasted it before she plated it. It was fine.”

“Then why is it still as disgusting as ever?” Tsuchida groans.

“Coach’s inability to cook is beyond human understanding,” Izuki snorts. 

“It’s almost impressive,” Koganei agrees lowly. 

Meanwhile, Kuroko has finished nearly a fourth of his plate. “This tastes good.”

“K-Kuroko, that’s enough. Don’t do anything crazy,” Izuki heeds the first year. “You don’t have to prove yourself like Hyuga and Kiyoshi did.”

The bluette shakes his head. “No, it really is good.”

Kiyoshi arches a brow. “Kuroko-kun, did you serve yourself?”

“Yes. Coach forgot to plate me, so I got my own,” Kuroko states stoically, causing the rest of the team to deadpan and Riko to blush in embarrassment, not even able to stutter a proper apology for forgetting her underclassman and team mate. 

Kiyoshi hums, facing the blubbering coach on the verge of tears. “Riko, could you plate another serving? Show us how you did it.”

“Yeah, sure…” Heaving a depressed sigh, she nods, grabbing a plate. “First you serve the rice. Then, before you add the sauce…”

We watch as she sprinkles a substance onto the rice, squinting to see what it is. Koganei gasps, slamming his hands on the table as he stands in disbelief. “OI!? What is it that you’re putting on there!?”

Riko blinks at him, eyes wide. “Huh? It’s protein and Vitamin C powder…”

The second years all gasp as I burst into hysterical laughter, face turning so red as I roll on the floor the Kagami has to grab me by the shoulders and question whether my brain is getting enough oxygen or not. Izuki points at the Coach in accusation. “THAT’S IT!”

Therefore, Riko serves another round of the same pot of curry, this time without the supplements on top. And as everyone takes their first bit, no one immediately gags or voluntarily spits it back onto the plate, so I’d say it’s a success. They all sigh in relief. “It’s normal!”

Riko flushes. “Then you can at least say it’s good!”

I grin as I rub under my nose, arms folded. “Now that we’ve finally gotten that catastrophe bound to happen sorted out, there’s one more thing we forgot to add.”

Everyone turns to face me, Kagami’s eyes wide in horror as he predicts what I’m about to mention. “Don’t say it, [Name]…”

“Next week is the last week before summer break,” I remind them with a twisted grin. “Which means you all have to pass your finals in order to go on any club-based training camps over the summer!”

Everyone groans in horror at my maniacal laughter, knowing that while Riko’s the one to whip them in shape physically at practice, I’ll have no trouble doing the same to them mentally during study sessions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In any case... haikyuu dudes. The majority of any upcoming updates are for you baby. And it's summa time, so we're going to be going into that arc ;) You know the one. Get ready >:)


	17. Savior

Meanwhile, at Karasuno, after the boys get back from a run, they find Ukai and Takeda waiting for them back in the gym. The teacher sits all the boys down to prepare them for a talk. He clears his throat, his expression somewhat grim. “Ahem. About that trip to Tokyo… For now, it’s scheduled to take place next month. For a trip like this, we’ll be needing your parents’ permission. I’ll pass out the paperwork later. The school has given consent as well. However, as you are aware, you have final exams starting the first week of next month.”

Ukai grimaces at the statement, four particular boys sitting within the group of volleyball dorks suddenly drained of all hope. Takeda arches a brow. “At least, I assume you all remembered final exams, r-right…?”

Simultaneously, Hinata, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Nishinoya all avert their gaze, for Takeda is singling them out, at this point. “So, I think you know what I’m getting at. If you fail any subjects of the exams, supplementary classes will be held the weekend we leave, which means you will have to stay here and miss the away games.”

Tanaka and Nishinoya are the first to panic, jumping up and running for the exit. Daichi deadpans. “Oi! There’s nowhere for you two to run! Ennoshita, grab them!”

The second year does as told, blocking them from the exit. “Gotcha!”

Meanwhile, Hinata’s fallen into a sort of trance, unresponsive to his environment. “Fail… Fail… What counts as a failing grade!?”

Suga’s dumbstruck. “That’s your first question!?”

Yamaguchi yelps, pointing at the ravenette hunched over in the corner. “K-KAGEYAMA’S NOT BREATHING!”

Ennoshita drags the vigilantes back over, in which Tsukishima smirks mockingly at them. “You guys better not fail.”

“Nope!” Ennoshita agrees, amused.

“M-Maybe if we beg the principal…” Hinata has resorted to bribery out of his desperation.

“How about you just try hard enough not to fail the exam?” Tsukishima suggests, quite obviously getting a kick out of the four’s despair.

Takeda sighs, shaking his head. “Even if we get the vice principal’s permission, if you have to take supplementary classes, they will be first priority.”

Seeing as the teacher shattered his dreams in just one sentence, Hinata falls before Ukai, begging at his feet and clutching his jacket. “Coach!”

Eyes wide, Ukai struggles to find something to say. “Uh! W-Well, this isn’t something you can expect to avoid as a student! I-It will teach you willpower! You just need to believe you can do it and you will!”

“Eh!? Isn’t that too philosophical? Nevermind, this is fine,” Hinata suddenly bows. “Please, teach me how to study!”

“...Hinata. I didn’t really want to bring this up, but…” Hinata looks up at Ukai, eyes wide as his coach’s silver earrings glint in the gym lighting. “Do I look like someone who got good grades in high school?”

Hit like a bus, Hinata faceplants the floorboards in defeat. Suga chuckles and walks over to him. “Hinata, I’m sure you’re overreacting. Surely you aren’t that worried about passing a couple of exams?”

His voice is muffled against the floor. “I’ve never scored a double-digit score on a single quiz before… Do you think I’ll be okay…?”

Suga loses all hope at the seriousness in Hinata’s tone. Meanwhile, Tanaka and Nishinoya stand beside one another, appearing to be praying to some higher deity. Suga turns his attention away from Hinata for a moment in order to yell at them. “Oi! Stop it with the bodhisattva faces, you two!”

Pandemonium breaks out inside the gym. Ukai gasps as Takeda sinks to the floor, leaning against the wall and falling into a trance in which he repeatedly tells himself ‘they will be alright if they try, they will be alright if they try, they will be alright if they try…’ Tsukishima bursts into fits of laughter, enjoying the agony and suffering. As Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Hinata all weep together, Kageyama hasn’t budged from where he sits on the floor, face blank and still not exactly breathing.

“All right, that’s enough!” Daichi puts his foot down, and the entire gym falls silent, even the hopeless boys who had been sobbing before. “We still have time before exams start. And there’s no way Karasuno can bring our best to the Fukurodani Camp without these four bumbling idiots! There’s no chance!”

Tanaka and Nishinoya deadpan as Hinata grabs Kageyama by his shirt collar, roughly shaking him in a desperate attempt to try to break him out of his trance and just get a reaction out of him. Nishinoya’s eye twitches. “I don’t know whether to be flattered or ashamed…”

After cleaning, Daichi continues to lecture the four in the club room after getting changed. “Listen up, you guys. The first new rule from now on is that you will not fall asleep in class!”

Asahi deadpans as he looks at the four kneeling before the captain. “That’s their first priority…?”

Daichi continues. “Pulling an all-nighter with nothing but adrenaline keeping you going, screwing up in your classes and in club; all of it is absolutely unreasonable now!”

Tsukishima smirks as he joins Yamaguchi by the door. “We’re heading out.”

“Goodnight.”

As Hinata watches the door close behind the blond, he gets an idea, leaning to whisper into Kageyama’s ear. “Kageyama…”

The ravenette leans in to listen to what the redhead has to say, eyes widening as he vigorously shakes his head in response. “What!? No!”

Hinata glares at him. “You have no right to be picky! If we fail an exam, we can’t go on that trip! C’mon, it’s Nekoma! And all the powerhouses in Tokyo are gonna be there, right!? You’re okay with being left behind because you failed a subject!? You told Ushiwaka that you’d become the best setter!”

Hating to admit he was right, Kageyama reluctantly follows Hinata out of the club room, chasing Tsukishima and Yamaguchi down the hill towards the mart. “Tsukishima!”

Said blond cringes at the voice, slowly turning around to look at Hinata and Kageyama jogging up behind him. “What is it?”

“Tsukishima-san,” Hinata struggles to add the honorific. “H-Help us study… p-please!”

“What? No,” he answers simply. 

“Just, like, less than an hour each day-..”

“No.”

“But!”

“No…-”

“Why did we have to tag along all the way out here just because you’re a dumbass, [Name]?”

“Because you’re in desperate need of tutoring, Kagemoron, and I can only help you after I get my old math binder back! All the notes I took in it most likely cover what’s gonna be on your exam.”

The four boys arguing outside of the Sakanoshita Store all go silent at the sound of the familiar voice. They all turn to watch as [Name] struts around the corner, walking beside a boy in the same school uniform as her. He’s super tall, muscularly built with angry looking eyes and deep red hair. Hinata gasps. “[N-Name]-san!?”

Upon hearing her name, [Name] glances over at the boys, recognition flashing through her eyes immediately as she beams at them. “Hey, you guys! I’m glad to see you here!”

“What’re you even doing all the way out here so late, [Last Name]-san?” Tsukishima rolls his eyes in annoyance as Yamaguchi bashfully waves.

“Oh, remember when I visited you all around a couple weeks ago? Yeah, I forgot one of my binders here at the gym. It must’ve slipped out of my school bag. I never needed it until now, so I didn’t notice it was gone. Silly me!” she rubs her head, sticking out her tongue in an adorable manner. She looks over the four respectively. “I must admit, this is an odd pairing. Never would’ve guessed Tsukki to be the friendly type. What’re you all doing, loitering out here together so late?”

At that, Hinata pretend-bursts into tears, running over to [Name] and burying his head into her shoulder as he sobs. “Tsukishima’s being so mean, [Name]-san! We have exams coming up and he won’t help Kageyama and me study, and if we fail, we can’t go on the volleyball trip to Tokyo and play a bunch of cool teams!”

Her eyes widen as she comforts the boy. “Exams? Say, why didn’t you just call me? I can tutor you guys.”

Hinata gasps, leaning back and sniffing up some mucus. “W-Wait, really?!”

She nods. “Mm hmm! Seirin’s exams are this coming week, and Taiga here is in the same boat. He’s a dumbass, so I’m tutoring him in math and stuff. If he doesn’t pass he won’t be allowed to participate in club activities anymore, and I guess we kinda need him for the Winter Cup, so…”

“Don’t be so nonchalant about it!” the redhead growls, ruffling up her hair in a rough manner as she snickers mischievously. “And don’t go around calling me a dumbass!”

She shrugs before gasping. “Oh, I didn’t even realize! How exciting! My volleyball dorks meeting two of my basketball dorks!”

Hinata arches a brow, wiping away the last of his tears as he looks around before pointing at Kagami. “Two? But, [Name]-san, this is the only guy with you-...”

“Hello.”

Hinata shrieks as a small-framed bluette just a handful of centimeters taller than him appears on [Name]’s left, face void of emotion. He also wears the Seirin uniform. Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi also reel back in surprise, having missed the boy standing beside [Name] before. 

“W-Where the hell did he come from?” Tsukishima scoffs, eyes wide.

“I’ve been here the whole time,” the bluette replies simply.

[Name] giggles. “Yeah, he’s got that effect on people. Don’t worry, he’s not a ghost. In any case, you two can introduce yourselves, I assume? Or can you not remember your own names, just like you can’t remember the quadratic formula?”

The tall redhead scowls at her before introducing himself without a bow. “The name’s Kagami Taiga. First year power forward and ace for Seirin.”

As Hinata marvels over the title ace, eyes twinkling, the bluette clears his throat. “Kuroko Tetsuya. First year small forward.”

“Wow!” Hinata gawks, unfamiliar with the basketball lingo but impressed, nonetheless. “I’m Hinata Shoyo! I’m a first year middle blocker!”

“And short,” Kagami comments, earning an elbow to the ribs from [Name].

“H-Hello. I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi. I’m just a pinch server…” Yamaguchi waves.

[Name] gasps. “Yama-san, you’re the pinch server now!? That’s so exciting!”

He blushes. “Well, I-I haven’t really pulled off consecutive successful serves yet, but…”

“Tsukishima Kei. Middle blocker,” the blond interrupts, indifferent about the situation.

[Name]’s eyes then drift over to Kageyama, who seems to be in a rather foul mood at the moment. His steel optics fall under her expecting stare, and he sighs lowly. “Kageyama Tobio. First year setter.”

[Name] claps her hands together happily. “Isn’t this so exciting!? My two worlds are colliding! In any case, Hina-chan, Kags. I’d be happy to tutor you guys for your final exams starting tonight. I’m actually planning on tutoring Taiga and Tetsu tonight, too, so it wouldn’t be imposing at all.”

They both stare at her with wide eyes before bowing stiffly. “Thank you very much!”

She giggles. “No problem. You can call your parents and tell them you’re staying over at my place for the night. I’ll wake up early to drive you to school in the morning. Taiga and Tetsu-chan can show you back to my car. I just need to run to the gym in order to retrieve my binder, real quick.”

“T-Thank you!”

With another nod, [Name] turns to jog off towards the gym up the hill, but she isn’t able to make it as far as a few steps before two forces collide with her and knock her over onto the pavement. “[NAAAAAAMMMEEE]-SANNNNNN!”

“Noya-senpai! Tanaka-senpai!” she greets breathlessly as they fawn over her.

“You’re looking very beautiful today, [Name]-san!” Noya informs as he helps her up.

“Very very beautiful!” Tanaka adds.

“Why, thank you, you two. You’re both always so sweet,” she brushes off her skirt.

“What’re you doing here? Don’t you live kinda far away?” Nishinoya tilts his head, Tanaka nodding in agreement.

“I left something of mine in the gym from my last visit. I’m here to retrieve it,” she explains. “Oh, but Kags and Hina-chan have asked me to help tutor them for final exams, so they’ll be spending the night at my place for tonight, too.”

Kageyama and Hinata flush when they overhear her words, getting Kagami to arch a brow at them suspiciously. Nishinoya’s and Tanaka’s eyes twinkle with a glimmer of hope as they throw themselves down at her feet and begin begging. “[Name]-san! Please tutor us, too! Our grades are hopeless and we really, really want to go on the Fukurodani trip next month!”

She blinks, eyes wide as they continue to beg. “S-Sure! I can tutor you guys, too.”

They stare at her as if she were an angel sent down by the skies above to become their saving grace. Tears even begin to brim at their ducts. “[NAME]-SAN! YOU’RE TOO GOOD! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!”

“YOU’RE AN ANGEL-... NO, A-A GODDESS! OUR SAVIOR!”

“I-It’s really no problem. I don’t mind tutoring you guys…” she backs away nervously, their shouting and crying beginning to freak her out a bit. “Though, I don’t really know how I’m going to fit all six of you into my car. I suppose I could always squeeze Noya into the trunk…”

“Six…?” Tanaka stands, blinking.

“I AM NOT GOING IN THE TRUNK-... wait a minute,” Nishinoya points at Kagami and Kuroko. “Who are those guys?”

“Two of the players from my basketball team,” [Name] answers with a grin. “Here: While I go and fetch my binder, why don’t you all get acquainted?”

Tsukishima rolls his eyes. “If I’m no longer needed here, I’m leaving.’

“E-Eh!? T-Tsukki, wait for me!”

[Name] watches as the two walk off, waving as they go. “Bye Yama-san! Tsukki!”

On the car ride home, [Name] opted to sit Kagami in the passenger seat, seeing as he’s the biggest, while having Hinata and Nishinoya sit on the floor in the back, being the smallest. Tanaka, Kageyama, and Kuroko all have to squeeze in onto the bench seat.

Kageyama grumbles as Hinata continuously bumps into his knee. “[Last Name]-san, how much longer?”

“Sorry, but it’s about an hour long car ride, Kags,” she reminds him, frowning as her eyes flicker up to him in the front mirror. “Say, why don’t you call me by my first name? I can’t figure out why.”

He smirks at her mockingly, deciding to tease her a bit. “Because I only call people I respect by their first names.”

She blinks in the mirror before looking back at the road, expressing no visual emotion. “I suppose I should start calling you Tobio, then.”

He chokes on his own saliva, face red by her answer. “S-Since when did I give you permission to call me Tobio, d-dumbass!?”

“When you told me that you only refer to people you respect by first names,” [Name] blinks, gaze flickering back to his seat again. “I do the same thing with Kise Ryouta-...”

“Wha!? Isn’t he a famous model!?” Tanaka gawks, interrupting her.

“And a real pain in the ass,” Kagami butts in, arms folded.

“You guys know him!?” Nishinoya admires in a childlike behavior.

“Why, of course. He was one of Tetsu-chan’s former teammates in middle school,” [Name] briefly explains before continuing her explanation to Kageyama. “See, Kise refers to the people he respects with a certain nickname: he adds ‘cchi’ onto the end of the person’s name. So, Kurkocchi, Kagamicchi, and [Name]cchi, for the three of us. I decided that in turn, to prove to him that I respect him more than anyone, I’d refer to him by the same nickname he uses for me. So I call him Ryoutacchi.”

Hinata’s breath hitches as he struggles to sit still, him and Nishinoya both throwing their arms in the air. “Wow! You’re so cool, [Name]-san!”

Kageyama is quiet for a good portion of the car ride, pondering all that [Name] just told him. That is until something else crosses his mind. “Oi, [Last Name]-san?”

“What is it?” she calls back to him softly.

“How do we even know this trip is even worth it?” he asks, arms folded. “How do we know your tutoring will be worth the trip?”

“[NIckname]-chan scored perfectly on all of her midterms this year,” Kuroko answers for her, sitting just to the right of Kageyama. “She tutors me in English quite often. I can vouch for her, seeing as I’ve been getting a lot better at it.”

“Aw, you really have been, Tetsu-chan! I’m very proud of you,” [Name] coos before reaching over and pinching Kagami’s cheek in the seat beside her. “What about you? Don’t you have anything to say? Hasn’t my tutoring helped improve your math?”

“Shut up and get off me, [Name]!”

As the two sitting up front playfully bicker, the four volleyball boys can’t help but stare at their new tutor in awe. Most of them figured she’d be smart, but this academically advanced? [Last Name][Name] truly is on a whole other level. 

A little over half an hour later, [Name] pulls off to the right side of the road, indicating she’d be turning into a private parking garage connected to what looks like a classy five star hotel. Seeing as the windows are rolled down, Kagami turns down the stereo for her, and she thanks him with a smile. Hinata, Nishinoya, and Tanaka stick their heads out the window, gaping at the mere size of the building above them.

“[N-Name]-san, do you live here!?” Hinata shouts in excitement.

“Hina-chan, it’s late, keep your voice down!” she cringes. “And will you three get back in the car!? I’m not supposed to be driving more than one person at my age, much less more than this car’s capacity; you’ll get me in trouble!”

After [Name] parks, all the boys file out and begin stretching the kinks that had begun forming in their backs and limbs from being crammed into the vehicle so long. [Name] pops the trunk so that they can retrieve their bags before locking her Honda’s doors. She turns around to find Kuroko and Kagami deadpanning at the volleyball boys, who are rather rowdy as they look around at all the other cars in the garage.

“Do a bunch of rich people live here, [Name]-san!? The cars are so nice!” Hinata shouts.

“Lookie, lookie!” Nishinoya points at the one next to [Name]’s honda.

Tanaka’s jaw drops. “T-That’s a Tesla Model X! It’s custom wrapped, too!”

[Name] blushes a bit as they gawk at the car, hurrying them inside before they can drool over anything else. “Come on. It’s already late and I want to tutor you guys at least some before you fall asleep. This way.”

Kagami, Kuroko, and [Name] lead the way through the main lobby, which is thankfully empty sans the receptionists. They greet her with a wave, and [Name] nods in return. Once they’re all corralled into the elevator, Kageyama points at the buttons. “Which floor?”

Seeing as [Name] is a little busy scolding Nishinoya and Tanaka for being so childlike, Kuroko answers for her. “Thirteen.”

With a nod, Kageyama gazes down at the buttons again, eyes widening when he realizes that thirteen is the top floor. He presses it and the elevator slowly lurches up. Once they reach their destination, the doors slide open and the boys file out. [Name] rummages through her bag and pulls out a set of keys, fumbling through them until she sifts one out and approaches the only door in front of them. She swiftly unlocks the door before putting in a four-digit pin into a keypad and pushes the door open, stepping aside in order to allow her guests in first.

Kagami and Kuroko are by now over the initial shock of her penthouse apartment, having stayed the night here multiple times after study sessions. Ducking under the doorframe, they head inside, excusing themselves for the intrusion and slipping their shoes off once they’re inside. [Name] arches a brow at the remaining four, who can’t even bring themselves to enter her apartment as they take in what they can from the outside.

“What’re you guys waiting for?” she ushers them in, shutting the door and locking it behind her. “Welcome to my humble abode! Oh, you can take your shoes off here, if you’d like. Just leave them by the door.”

They do as told, still starstruck as they bow to her. “Excuse us for the intrusion!”

“Please, as if you guys would ever be an intrusion,” she giggles, running a hand through her hair. “It’s easy to get lonely in this place, so the more the merrier, I say!” 

“[NAAAMMEEE]!” Kagami comes running from around the corner, where the kitchen would be, fully-grown doberman pinscher at his heels. “GET YOUR DEMON HOUND OFF MY ASS ALREADY!”

“Will you ever get over that fear of yours? He just wants to play with you, Taiga!” [Name] giggles, sitting on the ground criss-cross and whistling for the dog to come to her; he does, jumping onto her and licking her face. “Oh, who’s the best boy? Who’s a pretty boy, Pharaoh? Oh, you’re so handsome, yes you are!”

Kagami grumbles under his breath as Kuroko crouches beside [Name], scratching behind the large dog’s ears as the doberman pants happily. “She’s right, Kagami-kun. Between this and Nigou, your fear of dogs is rather embarrassing.”  
“SHUT THE FUCK UP, KUROKO!”

[Name] laughs, standing back up and putting a hand on her hip as she faces the volleyball boys, standing at the entrance awkwardly while holding their bags. “Feel free to make yourselves at home, guys! There should be enough space in the living room for you guys to put your stuff for now. But I only have two guest rooms... Oh, that is if you guys weren’t planning on staying over, too, Taiga? Tetsu-chan?”

The bluette shakes his head. “Kagami-kun and I are staying over at his place tonight.”

The redhead nods, obviously exasperated as he rubs his temples. “Right. We’ll be outta here by midnight, [Name]. Promise.”

“It’s no problem, really. You guys need a ride back to your place? It’s not far.”

“No, that’s okay. We can walk,” Kagami waves it off. “I just need more help with math, that’s all.”

“[Nickname]-chan. Can I use your shower before studying?” Kuroko asks softly. “Practice today was especially grueling, even for Riko-senpai.”

“Well, that’s because this is the last week before you all get some time off. And of course you can shower. The one in my room’s probably best. Feel free,” she suggests, and the bluette walks off towards the stairs to her master bedroom. [Name] then faces the four newcomers. “All right. Here, the living room is right over there. I can wash your practice clothes and uniforms tonight, too, if you’d like.”

“T-Thank you, [Name]-san!” Hinata seems to be the first to get over his shock, skipping after her happily. “Your place is huge! You live here alone!?”

She smiles sadly. “Yeah. That’s why I like to have people over so often.”

“I know you’re a celebrity and all, [Name]-san, but I didn’t know you were this loaded…” Tanaka continues to ogle at every single thing, from the crystal chandelier above to the faux fur rug on the floor.

“Money is so trivial, in my opinion. I like to pamper other people with it,” she sighs, gesturing to the sofa. “Here. You guys can leave your bags in here for now. Now, I need to go take Pharoah for a quick walk now that I’m home, so make yourselves comfortable. Taiga!”

He hums, looking at her from the island of the open kitchen, having been digging through [Name]’s fridge for most likely a snack before she called him. “What?”

She pulls something out of her wallet and offers it to him; a shiny silver debit card. He takes it gingerly. “Order from any place you’d like and make sure these dorks get whatever they want, too. Oh, don’t forget to ask Tetsu if he wants anything, too.”

“Alright,” he grunts, the volleyball boys all amazed by how nonchalant he is when it comes to spending [Name]’s money, as if he does it all the time. “I’ll probably get [restaurant]. What do you want, then?”

“Well, if you’re ordering from [restaurant], I wouldn’t mind [your order] right about now,” she licks her lips as she fastens a harness onto her dog. “[side dish], too. Oh, but no drink. I’ll stick to water. Now, I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes, so you guys get whatever you want to eat and get whatever you need help with out and ready, yeah?”

With that being said, both [Name] and her dog are out the door without another word. That leaves Kagami alone with the four new guys in [Name]’s household, Kuroko in the shower. The stubborn redhead looks over the boys, still gawking at the last place [Name] stood. Kagami notices the admiration they all hold for her; even the stubborn ravenette seems to have a soft spot for her. 

Kagami grunts as he opens his laptop, already connected to the wifi. “Well, what do you lot want?”

They all look at him, obviously having just been snapped out of deep thought, not really understanding the question, so Kagami rolls his eyes as he elaborates. “To eat.”

Once the food is ordered and a delivery time is set, Kagami returns the laptop to his bag and instead begins fishing out his math homework. The silence between himself and the other four grows a bit awkward, so he tries to at least spark a bit of conversation, his voice gruff and his brow cross.

“So, you lot are from the volleyball club [Name] disappears for so much,” he starts off, not caring how blunt he sounded. “Don’t worry, I don’t really care that much. If I’ve learned anything from now since I first met [Name], you can’t really stop her from making friends. She can’t help that she naturally attracts people to her.”

Nishinoya grins slyly, hand on his chin. “She does have something going on about her, doesn’t she?”

Tanaka nods in agreement. “Her looks are enough to draw anyone in, that’s for sure.”

Kagami isn’t too pleased by the comment. “Oi. Don’t go saying explicit things about her. People who objectify her piss me off more than anything.”

Hinata recoils, intimidated by the large basketball ace before him, despite being the same age. “W-We would never! [Name]-san is very dear to us! She’s like an idol to me, at least! Her kindness and talent knows no bounds!”

Blinking, Kagami smirks. “Now I get it. Little man’s got a little crush.”

“N-N-No I d-don’t!”

Nishinoya and Tanaka whip around, hovering over Hinata maliciously. “Is that so, Shoyo? Don’t you dare look at her the wrong way-...”

Kageyama rolls his eyes as the two second years tease their junior mercilessly, leaning back on the couch as he meets Kagami’s gaze. “Ignore those three. They’re all imbeciles.”

Kagami doesn’t laugh, but seems amused enough. “The two second years. Are they pervs?”

Kageyama blinks, somewhat taken aback by the question, but he calms down quickly. “I guess you could say that. But they mean no harm. They would never treat a girl without respect. They’ve always been obsessed with the manager of our volleyball team, too, but ever since [Last Name]-san has come around, they seem to favor her, at the moment.”

“And what about you?” Kagami decides to push his luck. “What do you think of her?”

Kageyama’s heart skips a beat at the question as he fights back his embarrassment. “I’m rather indifferent. I’m grateful for her help towards our club, but I couldn’t really care less about my personal relationship to her.”

After hearing this, Kagami’s brows furrow knowingly, but keeps his thoughts of the ravenette to himself for now. Instead, he leans back and folds his arms. “Well, I’d get used to having her around if she’s going to be tutoring you and your teammates. Despite what you want out of a relationship with her, she definitely sees you as a friend, Kageyama. She would go out of her way for anyone, seeing how kind she is. However, she wouldn’t call you by your first name if she didn't truly respect you with her entire being.”

Before Kageyama can react, the front door swings open and [Name] walks back inside, her large doberman sticking close to her left side before she takes the harness off, allowing him to roam free. She beams at the boys in her living room, snickering as the three most childish of the lot immediately stop wrestling upon her arrival.

“Seems you guys have made yourselves comfortable,” she folds her arms, amused. “I got a notification that the order you guys made with my card is thirty minutes out, so let’s get started, shall we?”

“Yes, thank you, [Name]-san!” Hinata bows before sitting on the couch and waiting for further instruction.

[Name] giggles at his cooperation. “Well, for starters, I guess I need to know what each of you need to work on the most. So…?”

She looks expectantly at them all to answer. They all avoid her gaze, ducking their heads as they simultaneously respond with, “everything…”

Somewhat amused, somewhat concerned, [Name] rubs her eyes and laughs nervously. “All right, then. I guess it doesn’t really matter where we start. What do you all think you’re collectively the worst in?”

“English,” Kageyama is quick to start, Hinata nodding vigorously in agreement.

“Yeah, we all suck at English,” Nishinoya admits stubbornly. “Even though English is stupid.”

“Oi. Don’t say that about my native language,” [Name] teases in English rather than Japanese, making it difficult for the four boys to understand.

Kagami snickers. “Don’t tease them, [Name], none of them know what we’re saying.”

[Name] also laughs as the volleyball boys confusedly watch them converse in a language that they can’t understand. “Well, lucky for you four, Taiga and I are both fluent in English.”

The tall ace looks at her with a shocked expression, red eyes wide. “Huh? Absolutely not. I’m not wasting my time here to teach these idiots English.”

“Aw, c’mon, Taiga. I may make fun of you for it a lot, but you really have gotten better at math. You study well with or without me, at this point. I can give you my old math notes to take home with you,” she coos. “Besides, it won’t be that bad, I promise. Just for tonight. It’d help me out a lot.”

Kagami scowls at her puppy eyes, begging him just this once. Sighing, he gives in with a growl. “Fine. But only this once. I’ll take the shorty and the skinhead.”

[Name] snorts. “Thank you, Taiga. I guess that means your two are stuck with me, Noya-senpai, Tobio.”

“Sweet!” Nishinoya cheers, digging through his bag for his English notes.

“[Name]-chan,” Kuroko calls from the loft over the bar, leaning over the railing with a white towel wrapped around his waist, damp blue locks clinging to his forehead. “Did you move my extra change of clothes?”

“They should be hung up in the closet,” she calls back up to him nonchalantly as the four volleyball boys gape over the fact that [Name] keeps male clothing belonging to her basketball team in her closet. Said manager smirks childishly. “Do you need help changing into them, Tetsu-chan?”

“[Nickname]-chan, you need to stop making jokes like that. You sound crude,” Kuroko sighs in disappointment, turning back around to head back into the master bedroom. “It’s embarrassing.”

As she snickers to herself, Kagami also fumes, grabbing her by her uniform collar and shaking her a bit as he scolds the girl. “[Name], your inappropriate mind has really been getting on my nerves lately.”

“You’re just jealous, Kagemoron,” she snorts once again, smirking at him as his face flushes the same deep shade of red as his hair. “Aw, Taiga, you’re blushing.”

The ace quickly throws her aside before grabbing Hinata and Tanaka, dragging them to the island in the kitchen to get started on their studying. “You know what? I’ve had enough of you for one day. I’ll be over here.”

“Have fun!” she chirps before chuckling to herself, facing Kageyama and Nishinoya on the couch. She hums softly as she clears off the dark coffee table in the middle of the room, gesturing they prepare their notes on it. “Here. Get any assignments you have that have to do with English. I’m gonna go upstairs to change real quick, but we can begin after that.”

“Right. Thank you, [Name]-san!” Nishinoya jumps from the couch to the table, pulling crumpled up papers out of his school bag excitedly.

Kageyama joins his upperclassman on the soft carpet on the floor, kneeling before the table as he begins rummaging through his bag for his past English quizzes. Meanwhile, [Name] scratches Pharaoh’s head, who’s been lying on the couch, as she walks past to head upstairs. Heading into her room, she finds Kuroko walking out of the bathroom, fully changed into his clothes and his hair still damp. She smiles at him.

“I see you’ve found your clothes. Too bad, I was coming up to help,” she jokes.

“Yeah, too bad,” Kuroko smiles as he brushes past her to head back downstairs. “Should I get my English stuff out, too?”

“Yeah, you can join me and my little group on the couch. Forgive me if the majority of my focus is on the other boys for tonight, but I think they need it a bit more than you and Taiga do, if I’m being honest,” she frowns.

He shakes his head. “No problem. Any help from you is useful enough for me.”

With that, he heads back downstairs to join the rest of the boys. Sighing, [Name] heads over to her closet and pulls an oversized vintage t-shirt from the rack. She smiles at it before slipping out of her school uniform, dropping the clothes to the floor at her feet as she changes into the large t-shirt and a pair of comfy shorts. Satisfied, [Name] returns to the living room, where Kageyama and Nishinoya sit where they were before at the table, Kuroko chilling on the couch beside Pharaoh with an English textbook propped open on his lap.

“All right,” she smiles, clapping her hands. “First things first. Let me see how well you did on previous English quizzes.”

Kageyama and Nishinoya both hand her their quizzes, watching as she cringes at the scores, all hope shrinking out of her usually sparkling [E/C] eyes. “Oh boy… This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.”

Therefore, [Name] launches right into it, organizing their English assignments and trying to teach them the most efficient ways to study definitions and grammar. However, Nishinoya proves to be very stubborn when it comes to answering what questions are asking while Kageyama can’t seem to memorize definitions for the life of him. Huffing, she rakes a hand through her messy hair.

“[Nickname]-chan, sorry to interrupt, but how do you pronounce this word?” Kuroko asks softly from the couch, leaning over her shoulder and propping the text book up in front of her face, nearly hugging her from behind. He points to the word. “This one here.”

She hums, squinting at it. “Commendable. Come-end-uh-bull. It essentially means very impressive or worthy of praise.”

“Come-end-aye-bull…” Kuroko repeats.

“Come-end-uh-bull,” [Name] corrects him, smiling as he leans back and continues to repeat the word to himself. “Now, for you two… Noya-senpai, I know it’s hard, but can you please try to read the entire question before you answer it? Your answers are great in any other context, but you need to answer what the question is asking. Like, here: This question is asking you to write down a line directly from the given passage that represents how the character is feeling in this moment, but you wrote down something that wasn’t in the passage. Why don’t you reread it and try again?”

Huffing, Nishinoya grumbles to himself as he hunches over the page. “Stupid character should suck it up and get his life together instead of complaining about all his problems on a stupid practice exam question….”

Amused, [Name] then turns to Kageyama. “Now, you. I’m still trying to understand why you can’t copy any of these English terms down to memory. It’s quite obvious that you’re a very quick-thinker, Tobio. It shouldn’t be difficult for you.”

He narrows his eyes, scoffing as he looks away stubbornly. “I just can’t, okay!? Why should Japanese people even have to learn English!?”

“So that you may understand me when I switch between Japanese and English at random, like I did just now,” Humming, [Name] snaps her fingers and whips out her phone, opening a certain contact and raising the device to her ear. “Ah, Daichi-senpai! Sorry for bothering you so late, but it’s me, [Name].”

“[Last Name]-san? How have you been? Do you need something?”

“I’ve been wonderful, thank you. And yes, actually, I do need a very small favor,” she smiles into the speaker. “You see, I’ve picked up four of the idiots from your team and have agreed to help them study for your upcoming finals.”

“Y-You have!? T-Thank you so much! We’re incredibly worried that those four may not be able to accompany us to the Fukurodani trip this summer. As their captain, allow me to show you my deepest gratitude and thanks. And sorry for whatever trouble those four idiots cause you.”

[Name] giggles. “It’s no problem at all, Daichi-senpai. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them. In any case, I was wondering if you could send me a copy of your setter signals? I think it may be able to assist me in this situation.”

“Our signals? U-Uh, sure, if that’s what you want. I have a digital copy on my phone, so I can text them to you. I-Is that all?”

“Yes, thank you very much!”

“All right, then. Thank you again, [Last Name]-san.”

“No need to thank me. Good night!” she squeaks before hanging up the call, receiving a text from Daichi only seconds later. She grins and opens up the document. “All right, Tobio. I want you to recite to me the first thing that comes to your mind when I do these signals, ‘kay? As quickly as you can.”

He arches a brow as I start performing each hand signal to him. “Hm? S-Sure. Quick set B, A, C, time-lag in front of setter, left side back row attack, D, parallel, semi, time-lag behind setter.”

[Name] smiles sweetly, seeing as he got them all correct without hesitation. “And tell me, Tobio, how long did it take you to memorize all of those?”

Kageyama thinks for a second as Nishinoya gawks at him, beyond impressed at how fast the first year came up with each play. “Uh, the day Sugawara-san gave them to us.”

[Name] grins madly, fire dancing behind her intelligent [E/C] eyes. “Then I won’t let you use ‘I just can’t’ as an excuse when it comes to memorizing terms.”

Kageyama cringes at the flare that sparks up in her eyes, determination ripping through her aura as she grins at him. “F-Fine… I just don’t like it.”

“Too bad, because I just made a promise to you and your captain to help get your scores up in order to go to the Fukurodani camp this summer,” she folds her arms and sits up straight as the doorbell chimes. “Taiga!”

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” the redhead gets up from the island where he'd been barking at Hinata and Tanaka for the past ten minutes while trying to tutor them. He comes back from the foyer with fresh food. “Food’s here.”

And for the next couple of hours, [Name] worked hard in tutoring her two boys in English while Kagami equally put the pressure on his two pupils. And although it’s difficult, [Name] can see growth in both Nishinoya and Kageyama throughout their study session. Every once in a while, Kuroko will interrupt to ask her how to pronounce a word or something from the couch, but keeps to himself for the most part. And around an hour before midnight, Kuroko and Kagami excuse themselves, leaving for the night and leaving all four in [Name]’s care.

“Just one more hour, then we can go to bed,” she says, the boys groaning as they continue their studying. [Name] leaves them be unless they have a question; otherwise, she sits with her laptop open and surrounded by binders as she jots down the best way to help Kuroko and Kagami improve as individuals, focusing on Kuroko’s newest idea formally. And around an hour later, seeing as the boys are all yawning, [Name] smiles. “All right. I say we turn in for the night. I can wake up early to drive you all into school tomorrow. There are two guest rooms, so two of you can sleep on the couch.”

Before she can even finish the statement, Hinata and Kageyama leap off the couch and race down the hall, each one of them calling dibs on one of the rooms before the second years can even blink. Tanaka sighs. “Those dumbasses. I’ll rip them a new one first thing in the morning.”

“Thanks for the help, [Name]-san,” Nishinoya beams at her. “How often do you think we can have these tutoring sessions before exams?”

[Name] puts a finger to her chin, pondering this for a moment. “Well, school ends this week for me, so I’ll be free for a couple weeks before my team travels to the coast for the first half of our summer conditioning. So starting then, I can begin tutoring you guys everyday. I mean, that’s if you guys don’t mind the two hour car rides every day.”

“No way, really!?” Nishinoya gasps.

“You don’t have to do that,” Tanaka stands. “We don’t want to take up so much of your time.”

“Nonsense!” she grins, hands on her hips. “I’ll be out of school and off of basketball practice for a while, so I’ll have plenty of time on my hands. I can pick you guys up right after volleyball practices and bring you back here everyday. You can even come over on weekends, if you want. I’m happy to help!”

“I-If you’re really okay with that…” Tanaka sits back down.

“Thank you, [Name]-san!” Nishinoya bows his head ecstatically.

“Of course. Now, if you both aren’t comfortable with sleeping on the couch down here, there’s another couch upstairs,” she tells them. “Either of you want that one?”

“I can sleep on the one upstairs,” Nishinoya offers, standing up.

“All right. Follow me, Noya-senpai. I’ll bring you to it,” [Name] smiles before facing Tanaka. “And I’ll bring you down some blankets, Tanaka-senpai. Just give me a minute.”

“Right. Thank you, [Name]-san.”

[Name] leads Nishinoya down the hall and through the laundry room before heading up the black modern staircase. At the top, she heads right towards the railing, gesturing to the yellow couch at the far side of the loft. “Here we are. I can grab you some blankets from the closet.”

“Sweet!” Nishinoya runs to the railing, leaning over and waving. “Ryu! Look at me!”

“Ah, Noya! You’re finally taller than me,” Tanaka mocks from down below.

“OI-...”

“Noya-senpai, quiet,” [Name] giggles, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the railing. The boy blushes at the slightly taller girl’s touch. “It’s late. So get situated and I’ll grab some blankets.”

He does as told as [Name] disappears into what he assumes is her bedroom. Nishinoya blushes lightly, realizing how close to her he’d be sleeping. Her bed is just behind this wall that the television is hung on. Taking a seat on the comfortable couch, he waits patiently until [Name] returns, a stack of several blankets in her arms. She approaches him and hands him two or three, which he takes.

“I hope that’s enough?”

“Oh, yeah, this’ll be plenty,” he grins. “Thank you, [Name]-san.”

“No problem,” her smile is warm. “Oh, and if you need anything, just let me know. The closest bathroom is in my room, so if you need to use it while I’m in there, don’t hesitate. Just knock on the door while I’m in there, yeah?”

“Oh, s-sure! Thanks!”

“Mm hmm!” [Name] chirps as she heads back down the stairs with the remainder of the blankets, heading back down the hall and into the living room. “Here you go, Tanaka-senpai. Are these enough for you?”

“Sweet! Thanks, [Name]-san. This is perfect,” he takes the blankets from her.

“Good. And if you need to use the bathroom at all, the closest ones are in the guest rooms. If you don’t want to bother Hina-chan or Tobio, you can come up and use mine anytime you want,” she states softly. “And don't hesitate to ask if you need anything. Goodnight, Tanaka-senpai.” 

“G-Goodnight!”

With a whistle, Pharaoh jumps from the couch and follows [Name] back to the hallway, where she turns off the lights. The only thing left to be gleaming is the crystal chandelier, reflecting the scattered moonlight through the glass window wall. She quickly refills her water in the kitchen and takes a couple of pills before heading back down the hallway. She respectfully checks on both guests staying in either room.

Hinata is swift to answer when she knocks on his door, not currently wearing a shirt, blushing when he finds her on the other side. “[N-Name]-san?”

She smiles sweetly. “I was just making sure you’re settled for the night. Is there anything else you needed at all?”

“N-No, this is absolutely perfect! T-Thank you!” he exclaims as he bows stiffly.

She laughs as she hushes him. “Shh, Hina-chan. People are trying to sleep, now. Well, I’m glad to see everything is well for you. And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. My room is right upstairs. Good night.”

“G-Good night!”

[Name] leaves him as he closes the door and turns around, petting Pharaoh on the head before knocking on the door opposite of Hinata’s. Kageyama answers quickly enough, also shirtless. However, he seems to have just gotten out of the shower, his black hair damp. “Hm. What is it, [Last Name]-san?”

“Just making sure you have everything you need,” she chirps with a cute smile.

“I’m fine. Thanks,” he grunts, arms folded.

“Good to know. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m right upstairs,” she bows her head before looking back up at him warmly. “Good night, Tobio.”

“Yeah…” he says softly, watching as she descends to the far end of the hall towards the laundry room. “See you in the morning.”

Sighing through her nose, she smiles softly and heads upstairs and into her room. One last good night to Nishinoya and she heads back into her room, Pharaoh at her heels. Once the door is closed behind her, the doberman jumps up onto her oversized bed and gets comfortable before curling up and relaxing on the mattress.

[Name], however, has other plans over sleeping for tonight. She hasn’t gotten as far as she wanted to with Kuroko’s new idea on improving his style of basketball yet. In addition, if she’s going to be responsible for tutoring these boys and helping them pass their exams, she might as well do it professionally and effectively. Therefore, she sits at her desk and throws her laptop open, immediately getting started on practice exams of every subject for the four to take the next time they visit for a study session. She makes individual questions for each of them, targeting their weaknesses and meant to strengthen their knowledge in the subject.

As she’s printing out the fourth practice exam, the one she made for Hinata, she checks the time, seeing that its 4:23 in the morning. Sighing, she smiles at Pharaoh, snoring softly on her bed. [Name] started the night by sitting at her desk on her laptop, but she somehow migrated to her bedroom floor, surrounded by papers and notes of her own to base the questions off of. She stretches out her back a bit, humming in delight when she hears a few satisfying pops come from her spine. She then reaches for a couple binders by her desk, flipping through them to continue her work on Kuroko’s new strategy to build on over the summer. If she can just find a way to help him perfect it, the move might be unstoppable. 

Around an hour or two later, she gets a soft knock on the door. Pulling an airpod out of her ear, she looks up, softly calling out, “come in.”

And through the door slowly peeks Nishinoya, who looks around the room before his eyes land on [Name], sitting in the middle of what appears to be a hurricane of papers on the floor. His eyes widen. “I honestly didn’t expect you to be awake so early, [Name]-san.”

She blinks, glancing at the clock by her bed, reading 5:32 in the morning. “Oh. I suppose I lost track of time.”

Nishinoya’s eyes widen. “Y-You never went to sleep!?”

“Shh, Noya-senpai!” [Name] urges in a whisper. “The other three are probably still asleep.”

“Right, sorry,” Nishinoya rubs his eyes with a sigh. “What’re you even doing awake still?”

She looks at all the papers and binders around her. “Well, I came up with some new stuff to help you guys out the next time you come over to study. I also have been working on something big for my basketball team for a while now. For Tetsu-chan, in particular. If he and I can perfect what we have planned, our team is going to become an even more formidable opponent in the tournament.”

“Whoa…” Nishinoya looks over some of the practice exams she made. “These are legit, [Name]-san. A-And you made each one of them with different questions!?”

“Mm hmm. Each one targets each of your weakest areas so that you can improve,” she yawns softly, gingerly taking the sheets back from him and setting them on her desk. “Now, is there something you needed, Noya-senpai?”

“O-Oh, right,” he clears his throat. “I normally get up a bit early to shower before school. So I was wondering if I could use your bathroom to do so?”

“Oh, of course. It’s right there,” she points to the door on the left side of her bed, where Pharaoh has rolled over and stretches a bit. “I think I’ll probably wake the other three up in about fifteen minutes so we can leave around 6:30. Your school day starts at eight, right?”

“Yeah. Doesn’t yours, also?” he arches a brow. “Won’t you be late?”

[Name] shrugs. “It’s just one day. Besides, the majority of my teachers like me, so they won’t be too hard on me for it. I’d rather get you guys to school right on time than force you all to get there a lot earlier than usual so that I can also get to school on time. That’d kinda suck.”

“Are you sure, [Name]-san? I don’t think any of us want to be responsible for getting you in trouble…” Nishinoya frowns. 

“I’m sure. It’s my decision,” she smiles comfortingly. “I probably won’t even go straight to school after dropping you four off. I might come home and shower first, which means I probably will arrive at school around lunch period.”

“W-Why do that?”

She shrugs. “If I’m already going to be late, I might as well take my time, right?”

Nishinoya’s shoulders slump in defeat. “If you say so. I’ll go shower, now.”

“Feel free. I’ll get started on preparing breakfast,” [Name] smiles, standing before deadpanning at her messy floor. “Perhaps I should tidy up a bit, first…”

Nishinoya chuckles at her as he heads into the master bathroom, gawking at how beautiful it is. The wall to the left is just like [Name]’s bedroom, completely made of glass. He can tell it’s tinted, however, so that he can see out but no one can see in to protect his privacy. The sink has a very spacious counter for all of [Name]’s stuff and a large mirror. And the shower is insane. No wonder Kuroko wanted to use this one earlier. It could easily fit a handful of people in it and has an insanely wide showerhead. There are also speakers for music, but he decides it wouldn’t be best to use them this early in the morning while people are sleeping.

He gawks at the beautiful shower, getting more and more excited to use it by the second. He gulps, however, when he looks at the controls to use the shower, unsure which nozzle to use and what they all were supposed to do. Therefore, Nishinoya opens the door back up to [Name]’s bedroom, expecting to find her still cleaning up the mess of papers.

“Hey, [Name]-san, how do you-...” He did not expect, however, to find her standing in her black undergarments, pulling her uniform skirt over her underwear. His face implodes into explosive heat as he takes in the scene with wide eyes, the image burned into his mind even after he throws his hands over his face in embarrassment. “S-SORRY! I-I DIDN’T MEAN-...”

[Name] only giggles at his embarrassment, now standing in her uniform skirt and plain black bra. “It’s not a big deal, Noya-senpai. It’s no different than seeing me in a swimsuit; I don’t mind. What do you need help with?”

Nishinoya slowly peeks through his fingers, still blushing when he sees her smiling at him in her bra. He continues to stumble over his own words. “T-The shower….”

“Oh, yeah. It can be a bit tricky if you don’t know how to use it,” she grunts as she grabs her white button up from her bed, tucking each arm into a sleeve but not bothering to button it up yet. “I’ll show you real quick.”

The libero continues to avert his gaze from the girl as she brushes past him into the bathroom. He can barely pay attention to her words as she instructs him on how to use the shower, pointing to each nozzle. He’s too busy focusing on focusing on anything but her. So when she asks him if he understands a few minutes later, he vigorously nods, not looking at her as he blushes.

“Good. Call me if you need anything else,” she says as she exits the bathroom.

“Y-Yeah,” his voice cracks, finally able to breathe again now that she’s gone. He covers his mouth with his palm, eyes wide as he continues to blush like a madman. Shaking his head, he figures out how to use the shower and steps inside, doing his best to forget his own embarrassment. 

Meanwhile, [Name] finishes getting changed and heads downstairs, where the sun hasn’t even begun to rise above the horizon, yet. She turns the lights on dim as she heads into the kitchen, doing her best not to wake Tanaka. She fails, however, as she’s pouring Pharaoh’s dog food into a dish. The second year sits up from the couch, yawning loudly. 

“Ah, my bad, Tanaka-senpai,” [Name] apologizes as he looks over at her; he can't help but enjoy the feeling he experiences while waking up to her first thing in the morning. “But I suppose I was going to wake you up after making breakfast, anyway. Sorry it’s so early. Did you sleep well?”

“Like a rock,” he grins, throwing the blankets off of him and sitting up, showing off his well sculpted abs as he leans over to grab his shirt from the floor. Once he pulls it on, he stands up for a better stretch and joins [Name] in the kitchen. “Need any help?”

“Well, I was gonna make pancakes if you wanted to help out with that,” she smiles gratefully. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” he grunts as she hands him a skillet and begins mixing the batter.

As Tanaka continues making the pancakes, [Name] adds another skillet on one of her two stovetops and begins frying up some bacon as well. Soon enough, Nishinoya comes back downstairs after his shower, hair damp and changed into his all black school uniform. When he sees [Name], he quickly looks away and blushes.

[Name] beams at him. “Noya-senpai, your hair looks so cute when it’s wet!”

This seems to help him forget his horror from before, grinning at her as he approaches her. “Really!? You think so!?”

“Yes, really!” she laughs, patting his head. “You look adorable.”

As Tanaka and Nishinoya giddily whisper to one another like the children they are, [Name] continues to finish the breakfast, checking the clock on the stove to see that it’s nearly 5:57. Cursing softly to herself, she asks Tanaka to finish the rest of the pancakes so that she can go wake up Hinata and Kageyama.

She knocks on the redhead’s door first, and he opens it after a moment, groggily standing in the doorway in his joggers but no shirt. For someone as small as he is, he sure is well defined. [Name] beams. “Good morning, Hina-chan! I know it’s probably earlier than you’re used to, but I want to ensure I get you four to school on time. If you want to get changed, breakfast is almost ready.”

“Breakfast!?” he gasps, sniffing the air and grinning. “That smells good… G-Give me just a second! I’ll be right out!”

As Hinata goes to change into his school uniform, [Name] turns to knock on Kageyama’s door next. He opens it much quicker than the spiker did, also shirtless and wearing joggers. She can’t help but notice the thin layer of sweat coating his chest and face. “Good morning, Tobio. I see you’ve been busy.”

He rolls his eyes at her smirk. “I couldn’t exactly go on my morning run. I don’t know the area and probably wouldn’t have been let back into the building. I had to compromise with a quick morning home workout.”

[Name] grins at him, punching his bare shoulder teasingly. “You could’ve just come and gotten me, Tobio. I would’ve gone on a jog with you if you had just asked, dummy. In any case, we can do that next time you stay the night. For now, breakfast is almost ready, so get changed so that we can eat and leave preferably by 6:30.”

“6:30?” Kageyama arches his brow, which he wipes the sweat off of with his wrist. “Isn’t that cutting it a bit close for a nearly two hour drive?”

[Name] shrugs with a smug smile, jumping as Hinata excitedly bursts out of his guest room, fully dressed in school uniform and cheering for breakfast as he runs into the kitchen. [Name] giggles at his excitement for the most important meal of the day before facing Kageyama once more, shooting him a wink. “It’s closer to an hour, actually. Besides, I’m rather skilled in the art of speeding, Tobio, if it comes down to it. But I doubt I’ll have to. There’s not much traffic on the roads leading back to your prefecture, especially not this early in the morning. Now, hurry up and change so that we can eat.”

“Right. I’ll be there in a minute,” he sighs, not even bothering to close the door as he goes into the guest bathroom to wash his face.

Blueberry pancakes are served with maple syrup and bacon, which the boys greedily scarf down in minutes. [Name] grins at their tenacity, finishing her serving just a bit after they do theirs. As they quickly gather the rest of their things after breakfast, [Name] impatiently rushes them out the door, fearing they might be late, even if they’re nearly ten minutes ahead of schedule. As soon as they reach the lobby, [Name] waves to the receptionists quickly before sprinting towards the garage, car keys in hand.

“Everyone in!” she orders as she unlocks the vehicle. Kageyama and Hinata race for shotgun, the ravenette ultimately beating the redhead to it snarkily. So Hinata begrudgingly sits in the back with Tanaka and Nishinoya as [Name] connects her phone to bluetooth and begins playing a chill morning playlist. “Everyone buckle the fuck up, because we’re going!”

As [Name] swerves smoothly out of the garage and down the street at five-to-ten miles above speed limit, Hinata can’t help but notice something as they drive. “Hey, [Name]-san… How come you don’t have your school bag with you?”

She shrugs, keeping her eyes on the road. “I won’t have enough time to get to school on time after dropping you guys off. So, if I’m going to be late, I might as well take my time in coming back. I was planning on stopping back at my place for a quick shower beforehand. I should make it by lunch time if I keep the shower short.”

Hinata’s eyes widen as he bows from the back seat, head placed between his knees. “I-I’m sorry that we’re making you late for school, [Name]-san!”

She laughs genuinely at his serious apology. “It’s really no big deal, Hina-chan. Honestly, it’s just one day and my teachers are kind of lax when it comes to me in their classes. So I won’t get in any trouble.”

“Promise?” he sits up, eyes watery.

“Promise,” she beams at him through the rearview mirror before quietly singing the next song that plays under her breath cheerfully. 

[Name] astonishingly get’s them to school at 7:50, dropping them off at the front entrance. They all thank her as they get out of the car, retrieving their school bags from the trunk. To see so many boys piling out of one car gains a bit of attention, passerbys slowing down in order to see what’s going on. A couple people point out [Name] in the driver’s seat and whisper things about her.

“Aren’t they on the volleyball team?”

“What’s such a pretty girl driving so many boys to school for?”

“You think she, you know… gets passed around…?”

“Maybe…”

“She does kinda look like a college chic; maybe she’s desperate for tuition money…”

“She is really pretty…”

“Maybe we’d get lucky if we offered her payment…”

Hearing these things pisses the four volleyball boys off, and all four of them glare in the direction of the whispers. Even Kageyama shoots a deathly blank scowl at the nosy passerbys; and if looks could kill, they’d have dropped them all dead. [Name] rolls down the window as she waves to the boys, quickly regaining their attention with ease. Seems she was oblivious to the whispers surrounding her appearance.

“Have a good day at school, dorks!” she giggles, waving as she flicks a pair of sunglasses on her nose to combat the rising sun. “Starting next week, I’ll pick you all up after volleyball practice everyday to continue our study sessions. I just have to make sure the idiots on my basketball team pass our exams first. So see you all then!”

“Thank you, [Name]-san!” Hinata and Nishinoya bow giddily with a smile.

Tanaka waves at her, grinning madly. “See ya’, [Name]-san.”

Kageyama merely nods at her respectfully, to which she smirks back at them in response. Tossing some hair over her shoulder, she turns her stereo up a bit louder so everyone can hear her as she exits the parking lot, shooting a wink at the four as she rolls her window back up. They watch her vehicle until it exits the parking lot and heads back down the road. Then the four volleyball dorks slowly head into the building behind them to prepare for the school day ahead.


	18. Stage Play

Starting the following week of their first rigorous study session, [Name]’s waiting for those same four boys in the parking lot after every volleyball practice. Never once is she late to pick them up, seeing as she already passed her exams with flying colors and is out of school for the summer. They always come out to find her sitting on the hood of her car, usually having one of her white binders propped open in her lap and the car stereo playing her favorite music as she waits for them. The sunset never fails to fall beautifully upon her when she smiles at them. 

And every day she’d bring them back to her place to study, usually different subjects every night. And she’d typically have practice problems and stuff prepared for them, targeting their weakest areas in whatever subject they’re working on. For Kageyama and Hinata, [Name] takes them aside for at least an hour every session to privately tutor them in English, seeing as their previous test scores unanimously announce how poor they are in the subject. So as she has Hinata focusing on multiple choice, she teaches Kageyama pronunciations and definitions. Tanaka and Nishinoya have gotten better at studying on their own, even if they get frustrated and yell for [Name]’s help pretty often still. The be-lovingly chaotic libero especially demands attention whenever there's math involved.

Even outside of study sessions [Name] would help them with their classwork. During free periods and lunch, Hinata would often facetime her in order to have her help him clean up his sloppy notes from that day. Seeing as she’s out of school now, it never caused conflict with her schedule. Kageyama would always be with him, too, seeing as he also needed the help, though he’d never verbally ask for it. He is polite enough to always thank her afterwards, though. He isn’t as rude as he makes himself out to be; just a bit.... dense, [Name] has deduced.

One day, however, when Hinata facetimes [Name] at his usual time, Kageyama sitting in the desk beside him, she doesn’t answer. Eyes wide, Hinata begins to get a bit scared. “S-She didn’t pick up!”

“Tch. Call again, dumb ass. Maybe she just missed it,” Kageyama rolls his eyes.

Two tries later to no avail, the pair get a bit desperate; they’ve come to rely on [Name]’s notetaking skills at this point, especially so for English. Therefore, they’re forced to compromise, stopping by Tsukishima’s class in order to ask for his. They find him sitting at the desk by the window, headphones in as he works on homework during his free time. 

He arches a brow at them as they approach, taking off his headphones and speaking before they can even ask him anything, eying the notebooks they carry. “Absolutely not.”

Hinata back steps. “B-But [Name]-san didn’t answer her phone, and she’s the one who usually helps us-...”

“And she's the one who agreed to help you idiots. I was just quicker to realize you both are lost causes and decided I'm not wasting my effort,” Tsukishama sighs, putting his headphones back on in order to imply the conversation is over.

Hinata growls as Kageyama scoffs, but neither of them push Tsukishima any further, stomping out of the classroom in frustration. The redhead fumes. “Damn that Tsukishima! Why’s he always gotta be so stingy!? Stupid Stingyshima! We’ve gotta find something before-…”

“Hinata!” the pair turn to face Yamaguchi approaching them in the hallway. 

“Oh, Yamaguchi!” Hinata beams hopefully. “Can you tutor us in English!?”

The pinch server chortles softly. “Ah, sorry, but I’m shit at English. But, do you remember that girl from yesterday? The one that Shimizu-senpai brought as a manager candidate? She said she was in class 5, so she’s probably pretty good at studying. I thought maybe it’d be worth a shot to ask her.”

Hinata ponders this, nodding in realization. “That’s right… Class 5 is the highest level honors class. For like, smart people! Let’s go, Kageyama!”

As the two head into the intended classroom, they spot the first year girl on the far side of the room, half of her short blonde hair clipped into a side-ponytail as she sips on a juice box. She’s a candidate to become the volleyball club’s future manager, but she’s rather unsure about the position and very shy. Yachi Hitoka is her name. That being said, Hinata ignores her timid nature as he calls out to her with a grin. “Yachi-san!”

“Gah!” Upon hearing her name, Yachi chokes on her juice, looking at them with eyes full of fear. And she then recognizes them from the volleyball team, becoming even more panicked when she can’t remember if they told her their names or not, regardless of who they are.

Lucky for her, Hinata saves her from her anxiety as he introduces himself. “I’m Hinata Shoyo from Class 1! Oh, and this is Kageyama.”

The ravenette bows his head as a greeting. “Hey.”

“H-Hey…” Yachi stammers back nervously. 

“Yachi-san, are you good at studying?” Hinata asks giddily.

She blinks. “U-Um, I’m not bad at it…”

Grinning, Hinata displays his notebook to her, pointing at the notes he took today, barely legible and full of scribbles and doodles. “It’s English. Can you help us revise this so it’s a bit easier to learn? We usually have another friend to help us, but they couldn’t today… Oi, you have to ask her, too, Kageyama!”

Kageyama turns from the redhead to look at Yachi. “Please teach us.”

Pleased with Kageyama’s manners, Hinata returns his gaze to the blonde. “If we fail our exams next week, we won’t be able to go to the Tokyo away games over the summer! So we’ve been getting tutoring outside of school, but she couldn’t help us during school today and we can’t wait until she picks us up after practice. Besides, she can get really scary sometimes while she’s teaching us…”

Kageyama arches a brow, his competitive nature brewing. “I’m not scared of [Last Name]-san.”

“When she whacks us over the head after we complain about something, she’s definitely terrifying!” Hinata retorts before sighing. “Besides, she’s really helpful and all but we need the notes now…”

Yachi blinks, somewhat confused still. “I-If you think I’m good enough to help… “

Hinata squeals. “Really!?”

“Y-Yeah,” she repeats with a nod. “But I’m not so sure I can be nicer than this tutor you both visit outside of class.”

The two volleyball dorks deadpan, thinking back to the scary look [Name] gets in her eyes whenever any of them give up on a practice problem, and how haunting her nervous laughter is. Kageyama and Hinata both shake their heads. “You definitely don’t need to worry about that.”

Hinata gasps as Yachi provides them with her own notes from the English lecture today, everything written out nice and neat as well as being color coordinated with pens and highlighters. The redhead forgets to even copy any of it down as he ogles at it. “Wow, Yachi-san, these are amazing! Your notes are so easy to understand! You’re pretty good at doodling, too!”

Yachi gulps nervously, smiling as she rubs the back of her neck. “Oh, t-they’re nothing, really! My mom works at a design firm, so she’s always been picky about organizing my notes and things like this. Still, I don’t know if they’re as good as the notes you’ve been taking before today, Hinata-kun…”

He blinks as she refers to the page before, which is drastically different than what his regular notes are, seeing as [Name] helped him organize them with colors and marking different sections up with pen. “Oh, well my notes only look like this after [Name]-san helps me reorganize them. But you and her color-coordinate and stuff super similarly, Yachi-san! You’re both super smart.”

“T-Thank you!” she blushes, stammering, not knowing how to properly receive a compliment. “But she sounds much smarter than me. I’d love to meet her. So, Hinata-kun…”

“Just Hinata’s fine,” the redhead beams. 

“R-Right. Do you not like studying, Hinata?” she asks softly. “It just seems like you get help on it all the time…”

He frowns. “I hate it… Sitting for such long periods at a time totally sucks!”

Yachi blinks, brown eyes wide. “But you're forcing yourself to get better at it so you can travel to Tokyo with your team?”

Those words chipper Hinata’s mood right up again. “Yeah! We’re going to be playing in practice matches against some of the strongest teams in Tokyo!”

“That’s amazing. I’ve never been so dedicated to one thing before,” Yachi admits. 

“Yeah, and there’s this team in Tokyo from Nekoma High School, and their setter is super smart. And their captain has a rooster head for hair and evil-looking eyes, and they have this guy who can pick up one dig after another like ‘pom’!” Hinata rambles gibberish, perplexing Yachi, who knows nothing about volleyball, to the furthest extent.

Kageyama, however, is capable of understanding Hinata’s rambling by now, nodding and agreeing, “Nekoma’s libero is very amazing. Probably on par with Nishinoya.”

“Nekoma’s full of amazing guys, huh!?” Hinata exclaims, bouncing in his seat. “And in our region there’s the Great King, Oikawa from Aoba-Johsai, and Ushiwaka, who they call the absolute champion, and Date Tech’s Iron Wall, Aone-san, who’s two meters tall!”

“T-Two meters!?” Yachi shrieks in shock before regaining her composure. “U-Um, Hinata? Are you a manager, too?”

The redhead tilts his head in confusion at the question. “Why do you think that?”

Yachi licks her chapped lip. “It’s just that to my understanding, only tall people play volleyball. When I visited, the club was full of tall guys.”

Hinata’s soul nearly exits his body. “I-I know I may be short, but I’m actually a regular…”

Yachi also nearly dies of embarrassment for falsely judging Hinata based on his height and appearance, burying her face into her hands to hide her blush, apologizing to him deeply as she bows parallel to the surface of the desk. “P-Please forgive me!”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Hinata forgives her with a sigh. “Besides, even though I’m not big, I can still fly!”

Yachi gazes at his determination in wonder, his smile beaming. Kageyama, however, doesn’t care one bit, deadpanning at his partner’s easily distracted nature as he points to the notes. “Hinata, don’t you need to copy this down too?”

“Oh, right!” Hinata gasps, picking up his pencil and continuing to copy the English down into his own notes, continuing to explain his passion to Yachi while doing so. “Everyone’s so big and scary in volleyball, but when we’re in a match, I feel like I’m worthy of taking those people on. It’s exciting; nerve-wracking, even.”

The blonde’s eyes widen at his short-lived speech. “That’s amazing, to be taking people head on like that… That makes you a Tiny Giant, Hinata.”

Shocked, Hinata jumps from his seat. “You know who the Tiny Giant is, Yachi-san!?”

Yachi can barely function after the redhead’s very loud and sudden exclamation. “U-uh, no, I-I, um-...W-When there’s a Japanese person performing well against taller opponents, a-aren’t they all called that? Tiny Giant…?”

“Oh… You’re right!” Hinata laughs. “Yeah! I’m gonna be the Tiny Giant!”

“A Tiny Giant who doesn’t make it to Tokyo if you don’t hurry up and finish copying down these notes, moron,” Kageyama groans in annoyance.

“Shit, right!” Hinata furiously returns to scribbling down the notes Yachi provided them, just barely finishing when the bell rings for the free period to be over. As he’s thanking Yachi, his phone begins to ring. “Thank you for tutoring us, Yachi-san. It was really-... Ah, hold on a minute… [Name]-san’s calling me, Kageyama!”

He scoffs. “Pick up so that I can tell the dumbass off for leaving us hanging earlier.”

Hinata scowls at him. “Don’t do that, Kageyama! She’s been so helpful to us up until now! That would be disrespectful!”

“Tch. Doesn’t mean I can’t yell at her anyway…”

Ignoring the ravenette, Hinata answers, unable to even say hello before he has to pull the phone away from his ear, seeing as [Name]’s apologetic tone comes through the speaker at an ear-splitting pitch. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to miss your call, Hina-chan! I was helping Taiga with math and forgot my phone upstairs, and I completely lost track of time and forgot that you had your free period at this time of day! Is there anytime left for me to help?’

“No, but it’s okay, [Name]-san, we were able to-...”

“We had to walk all the way across the school to get the help we needed because you didn’t pick up, dumbass,” Kageyama interrupts, grabbing the phone from Hinata. “You should be ashamed, stupid.”

As Hinata scolds him for being so mean, Kageyama half expects [Name] to wittily retaliate back with something as equally snarky, but he’s surprised to hear her choke back what sounds like a sob on the other end. “....I’m so, so sorry! Please forgive me for being such an awful tutor! I should’ve remembered about you guys before I agreed to help Taiga with his summer work! I’m-... I-... please forgive me! I’ll make it up to you and improve, I promise! I-I’ll even fix up better stuff for our session after school today to make it up to you! Please, please forgive me!”

Not only is Kageyama shocked by the sudden and unexpected outburst, but Hinata is, too. They didn’t think she’d take it this hard, seeing as she’s normally very composed and chill. Nonetheless, there’s only about a minute left to get back to their class, students filing back into the one they’re currently in. Hinata scowls at Kageyama as he swipes the phone back. “It’s okay, [Name]-san! You don’t need to be so hard on yourself, you’ve been a tremendous help despite today! And we found someone to help us during the free period, so no need to worry. Unfortunately, the bell just rang, so we have to hurry back to class. So we’ll see you after practice today, okay?”

After a short silence, she answers. “R-Right. See you then. Have a good rest of your day at school Hina-chan. Tobio.”

“Bye-bye!” Hinata hangs up before turning to scold Kageyama. “Look what you did, idiot! You nearly made her cry!”

“W-Well, how was I going to expect that!? She’s usually so hard-headed!” Kageyama retorts, even though he feels a bit guilty about it.

“I guess she just feels responsible for us and our grades!” Hinata snaps back before sighing, facing Yachi once more. “Thanks again, Yachi-san. See you at practice!”

“R-Right…” she waves as they exit the room, groaning to herself in exasperation. “W-What was that interaction…?”

Later that day, Yachi nervously approaches the volleyball gym, warily peeking inside around the door before entering. Unfortunately, Hinata spots her in her hiding space right away, bolting over to her. “Yachi-san! On the English quiz earlier today, there were questions that you taught me during free period! And the rest were a lot like the practice questions [Name]-san has been making me do lately! Look, I got more than half of them right! I’ve never gotten that many before!”

Yachi gasps happily as he shows her the quiz, a score of 68 written at the top. “That’s amazing, Hinata! Congratulations!”

During warm ups, Kiyoko is explaining to Yachi about all that she will be doing during practice today, which is simply observing and getting the feel of the environment. And she watches in wonder as practice begins, marveling at the powerful spikes and heavy-looking receives. Meanwhile, Tanaka and Nishinoya marvel at Kiyoko as she happily chats with Yachi, having not seen it in so long, ever since [Name] was helping them practice. They missed the cute girl-talk so much.

After practice, Takeda stops by to announce an upcoming practice match. “I know this is sudden, but Ouginishi High requested a practice match with us for tomorrow and I accepted. They were very interested in our team after seeing our performance in this year’s Inter-High prelims.”

Ukai nods, arms folded. “Don’t forget the regret and bitterness of losing to Seijoh. However, you don’t need to hold onto how it felt to lose for long. You lot oughta wipe that away by tomorrow!”

As the team excitedly begins to anticipate their match tomorrow, Daichi is about to dismiss them to start cleaning up the gym when the doors burst open, two people stumbling in and hastily shutting them closed behind them. None other than [Name] as well as teenage model Kise Ryouta lean against either door, sighing in relief and breathing heavily. They both wear their respective school uniforms, [Name] ditching her yellow sweater and Kise his gray Kaijo jacket in order to combat the heat.

Ukai arches a brow at the former in surprise. “[N-Name]-san!?”

She gulps another intake of oxygen before grinning. “Sup, Keishin-kun.”

“[N-Name]-san? Are you here to pick us up already?” Hinata tilts his head in confusion. “We still have to clean the gym. B-Besides, we usually come to you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” she finally catches her breath. “But Ryoutacchi and I ran into some trouble in the parking lot…”

The tall blond recoils at her playful glare. “Don’t look at me like that, [Name]cchi! It’s not my fault that no matter what school I visit, the girl students always know who I am!”

“What happened?” Takeda asks, confused.

[Name] groans. “Well, since Ryoutacchi and I are both finished with school for the summer and he has a photoshoot scheduled in Miyagi for today, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to hangout with him for awhile before picking the usual four idiots up. However, we ran into a bit of trouble in the parking lot, seeing as he’s famous and all.”

“You’re famous too, [Name]cchi. I’m just more handsome and approachable…” Kise grumbles, whiny when she kicks him in the shin.

Ukai arches a brow, hands on his hips. “Sorry, but who is this, exactly?”

[Name] blinks, eyes wide. “Oh, my bad! Everyone, this is my good friend, Kise Ryouta.”

“I’m your good friend!?” Kise’s golden eyes twinkle, but he bows after [Name] smacks him over the head. “I-It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Sorry for taking refuge from my crazy fans inside of your gym.”

Tanaka and Nishinoya gasp. “Wow, [Name]-san! You weren’t kidding when you told us you were friends with the Kise Ryouta!”

The blond is excited by this news, facing her. “Aw! You told your volleyball friends about me!?”

She groans, rubbing her temples in annoyance. “I’m regretting hanging out with you already. It’s easy when Yuki-senpai is here; he can at least keep me sane.”

“So mean!” Kise whines dramatically; this is when he notices that there are two other girls in the room, however, a nervous Yachi hiding behind an indifferent Kiyoko. Kise smirks at the former one, seeing as she’s the one who’s blushing. “Oh? Who is this adorable mademoiselle-...”

“Absolutely not!” [Name] scolds, hitting him once again.

“[Name]cchi! I get abused enough when Kasamatsucchi’s around!” he rubs his back in pain. “Give me a break!”

“Then stop hitting on every girl you see!” she groans.

“Don’t tell me it’s ‘cuz you’re jealous? That’s totally what it is-...”

[Name] kicks him harder in the shin this time before completely switching her mood, beaming at the Karasuno manager as Kise cripples in pain. “It’s good to see you again, Kiyoko-chan! And who’s this you have here? I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”

“[Name]-chan, this is Yachi Hitoka. I’m training her to potentially become the new manager after I graduate,” she introduces the blonde behind her.

“Is that so? How wonderful!” [Name] offers her hand with the most beautiful smile, causing some of the boys to shiver as they witness the interaction. Even Yachi’s blush deepens as she barely brings herself to touch the stunning girl’s hand before her. “My name’s [Last Name][Name], but please feel free to call me [Name]! I’m a first year student, too, at Seirin High School! It’s a pleasure to meet you!”

“I-It’s a p-pleasure to meet you, t-too, [N-Name]-san!” Yachi nearly faints before she recognizes the name. “[Name]-san? You’re the one who tutors Hinata and Kageyama-kun, right?”

At those words, [Name]’s eyes widen and she snaps her head over her shoulder to look at the two. Without hesitation, she runs over and stiffly bows before them, her [H/L] hair flipping over her head sharply as she does so. “Please forgive me again for not being able to help you earlier!”

Kageyama stiffens with wide eyes as Hinata blushes, waving his hands defensively. “I-It’s no big deal, [Name]-san, r-really! Yachi-san ended up helping us!”

“S-She did?” and like lightning, [Name] is now bowing at Yachi’s feet, bewildering the girl and nearly knocking her out from pure shock. “Thank you for tutoring these two idiots in my place, Hitoka-chan! I’m forever grateful!”

Kise watches the interaction between [Name] and this volleyball team she’s told him about with a bewildered expression. “I’ve never seen [Name]cchi act like this before…”

After Daichi orders some of the second and first years to quit idolizing Kise as a famous model and leave [Name] alone to do some cleaning, [Name] catches up with Ukai and Takeda, being informed about the practice match tomorrow, meaning she’d have to cancel their scheduled tutoring session. Kise merely stands behind her and observes the whole gym, catching some of the boys to be staring at her as they cleaned. To which he’d send them a cold look in response, and they’d quickly turn away. 

After cleaning, [Name] says goodbye to the majority of the team, as well as exchanging her number with the new manager in training. Nishinoya, Tanaka, Hinata, and Kageyama follow her and Kise to the parking lot in silence, watching in wonder as the two tease each other jubilantly. It’s strange to see [Name] treating him with such annoyance earlier to now acting so childlike along with him; they seem to be good friends.

Once they reach the parking lot, Kise parts ways with the group, patting [Name]’s head playfully and winking at her with a smirk before he runs off to the business limo awaiting him to take him to his photoshoot. [Name] faces the four with a grin as she unlocks her car. “Who’s ready for another night of studying!?”

“Hell yeah!” Tanaka hollers, racing Nishinoya for shotgun.

“I’m gonna learn so much more than Ryu tonight!” the libero announces confidently.

Kageyama rolls his eyes at the two upperclassmen as he reaches the car, throwing his bag in the trunk. Meanwhile, Hinata’s cheerfully bouncing in front of [Name], waving the same quiz he showed Yachi earlier in her face. “Lookie, [Name]-san! Look at how well I did on my English quiz today!”

She gasps, quickly recognizing it as his highest score in the subject ever, and excitedly jumps up and down with him. “Congrats, Hina-chan! You did so well! I’m so proud of you!”

“It’s all thanks to you, [Name]-san!” he chirps as he shoves Kageyama in the car, hopping in the back after him. “Let’s go!”

Seeing as the studying is as time consuming as ever, we don’t need to go over it again. The boys have been taking turns using the guest rooms every night to keep it fair. Tonight, Tanaka and Nishinoya get the rooms while Hinata gets the couch downstairs and Kageyama sleeps in the loft. After making sure they’re all situated, [Name] bids them all goodnight before jumping in for a late night shower, playing soft music to keep her sane but also making sure to keep it quiet enough in order to not disturb anyone. Once she gets out, wrapped in a fluffy white towel and hair wrapped up in a towel as well, she heads back into her room to change into a large t-shirt and underwear to finish some basketball work in. 

Before she can reach her closet, however, there’s a light knocking on her bedroom door. She answers it without hesitation. “Tobio? Do you need something?”

The ravenette refuses to look down at her, his gaze averted to the right. At first it was out of embarrassment to be disturbing her so late, but now it’s also because she’s rather indecent, as well. She doesn’t seem to care about either of these reasons, though, patiently waiting for him to say something. “I-I’m sorry….”

[Name] arches a brow. “Huh?”

“I wanted to apologize,” he repeats, a bit louder this time, but still quiet enough as to not wake anyone.

She tilts her head, the towel around her hair unraveling a bit, but she manages to catch it and fix it before it can fall. “Hmm? About what?”

Kageyama finally brings himself to look down at her, forcing himself to not let his eyes drift anywhere but her own painfully observant [E/C] optics. “About yelling at you earlier today. I didn’t mean to be so harsh. I’m just used to you being able to take all of my insults with a grain of salt and wittily send them back to me, so I wasn’t thinking about how you’d feel after yelling at you earlier today. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, [Last Name]-san…”

Eyes wide, [Name] blinks at the very unexpected apology. She didn’t know the word ‘sorry’ was even in Kageyama’s vocabulary. She gets over it quickly, nonetheless, her smile towards him warm enough to melt anyone’s heart who witnesses it. “Apology accepted, Tobio. Of course I still feel bad for not being there when you were counting on me to be. So I swear to you that I will make it up to you by ensuring you pass every single exam next week.”

Kageyama’s heart skips a beat at her unwavering determination, but he quickly shakes his head at her. “Please don’t feel guilty about it anymore. Hinata was right; you’ve done so much for us already that missing one call doesn’t even begin to make a difference. I know I don’t express myself much, but I really am thankful for you taking so much time from your life in order to help us attend the Fukurodani trip this summer. I respect you a lot for that, [Last Name]-san.”

“Y-You do?” her eyelashes flutter over her wide eyes, shocked to be receiving so much emotion from the normally standoff Kageyama before her. “All this time, you really do have respect for me?”

He can barely process those words; he can barely bring himself to believe that after all this time, [Name] thought he didn’t respect her or even like her. Of course he holds her highly in his mind; she’s been a great help to him and the team these past few months. Perhaps he should try and express the way he feels a bit more often; he never meant to make her feel as if he never appreciated her in the first place. Therefore, he stares down at her, brows crossed, but not in his usual angry expression; instead, he looks more certain, putting clarity behind the words he’s about to say. “Of course I respect you, [Name].”

Just six words is enough to nearly knock [Name] over; she can barely believe what she’s hearing. Kageyama just did what she honestly never thought he’d ever do: He called her by her first name. A wave of overwhelming joy washes over her and she beams at him. Kageyama nearly melts beneath her beautiful smile, wanting to bask in its warmth and comfort forever. It’s rare to ever find someone with such an outstanding smile like hers. And it isn’t rare because she hardly smiles, no. It’s rare because even though she’s constantly smiling, it’s somehow always breathtaking. 

“Tobio…. Thank you. That really means a lot to me…” she admits, smiling down at the floorboards at her feet. Her toenails are painted a light lavender. “I don’t think I’ve ever actually said this to you, but you’re a really great friend. Thank you for coming and telling me that…”

“Y-You’re welcome,” he stammers softly, somewhat embarrassed by the conversation, his heart racing. Then he remembers how late it is, bowing slightly before her. “Sorry for bothering you so late! I’ll let you sleep!”

She giggles at him, causing him to look back up at her in confusion. She smiles cutely. “It’s no problem, Tobio. Besides, I’m not going to bed anytime soon. I have a deadline that I set for myself tomorrow, and it needs to be finished before I take you lot back to school in the morning. So I’ll be up for awhile… You’re welcome to stay, if you want. Seeing as I don’t plan on sleeping, you can use my bed. It’s probably more comfortable than the couch. Then we can go for our morning jog around 4:30?”

Kageyama’s eyes widen at the invitation, gulping slightly as his eyes drift down to her towel, barely keeping much of her skin concealed. He quickly looks away. “S-Sure. If you don’t mind my company, I-I think I want to stay up a bit later in order to keep working on some of the math problems you were showing me earlier....”

[Name] grins at his enthusiasm to improve his academics. “I could really use the company, actually. Pharaoh’s great and all, but I can’t exactly hold a conversation with him. And I better not get any calls from Daichi tomorrow saying your performance in school and at practice was poor because you stayed up all night, you hear? This stays between you and me.”

Kageyama’s face heats up a bit at her wink. “R-Right.”

“Come on in,” she steps aside, gesturing to her bed. “I’ll just change in my closet real quick. Then I can just sit with you on the bed while we do our work. Sound good?”

“That’s fine,” Kageyama desperately tries to return to his typically indifferent nature, finding it to be much more difficult than it should be. He crawls onto [Name]’s very big and very comfortable bed as she disappears into her walk in closet to change. Leaning against her headboard, he grabs the notebook full of math problems [Name] provided him with and continues where he left off, determined to get at least a few solutions down on his own without her help.

He supposes he’ll have to call her by her first name all the time from now on; it shouldn’t be hard. The first thing that comes to mind when he looks at her isn’t ‘[Last Name]-san’, after all. It’s always been ‘[Name]’. Ever since she said that’s what she preferred to go by the day that she met him. He was just too stubborn to call her anything but her surname. Kageyama’s never called anyone by their first name, before. And, to be honest, he wasn’t sure about how he felt when [Name] called him ‘Tobio’ for the first time. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy it, it’s just-... He supposes he wishes it to be a bit more unique than just his name, even if it’s his first. For other people, she has nicknames, like Hina-chan for Hinata and Yama-san for Yamaguchi. For him, it’s just plain Tobio; no nickname or honorific. 

Kageyama blushes, cursing under his breath softly. It’s just then that he realizes how much he secretly loved it when [Name] called him Kags. He still likes that she calls him by his first name, now, but he’d never be able to admit that deep down, he didn’t hate her previous nickname for him. And as he glares at the white sheets, his face red, Kageyama can’t help but wonder what first comes to [Name]’s mind whenever she sees him; Tobio or Kags?

To fight off the heat crawling up to his neck and face, Kageyama takes a deep breath. His eyes narrow, inhaling again. He never recognized [Name]’s natural scent until now, seeing as her covers emanate the sweet aroma. It reminds him of vanilla, for some reason, but more so of her purity and innocence. How irritating; now whenever he smells vanilla, Kageyama will most likely be reminded of her stupid smile.

It doesn’t take long for [Name] to finish changing, coming out wearing an oversized t-shirt, concealing whatever shorts she may be wearing under them. Her [H/C] hair sways behind her, still very damp from the shower; she looks good with wet hair. Grabbing her laptop and a binder from her desk, [Name] joins Kageyama on the bed, sitting right beside him. She asks him if the current purple setting of her LED lights is satisfactory to him. He simply nods and focuses on his book, trying not to look at her. He fails, however, seeing as she offers him one of her airpods, her smile very sweet. He takes it silently, putting it in his left ear as she puts the other in her right. They spend the rest of the night working, enjoying the other’s company in silence as they listen to the music, only ever speaking if Kageyama needed a question answered about a problem in math.

Or, so, that's what Kageyama hoped would happen; but nothing ever seems to swing his way.

Not even fifteen minutes later, while [Name]'s in the middle of guiding the delinquent setter through a simple factoring problem, there's a soft rapping on the door. The girl excuses herself for a second and rolls off the bed, strutting towards the door. Kageyama watches her as she goes, the soft music from her AirPod still pulsating through his ear. 

[Name] swings the door open, leaning on the frame with a smile. "Noya-senpai?"

Wondering why she's so amused, Kageyama cranes his neck to peer over her shoulder from the bed. There, in the doorway, Nishinoya stands grinning, clutching his own math notebook. "Help me with these trigonometry equations, please!"

The requested tutor giggles, glancing at her phone in her hand. "Noya-senpai, it's one in the morning. Why are you coming to me with this now?"

He grins proudly. "I've been practicing on my own in my room! ...however, I'm not very good at them!"

[Name] laughs once again. "Fair enough. I'm glad to see that you're working so hard. You seem to come to me after sessions the most out of anyone. Lucky for you, Tobio also came here for a bit of extra studying, so this time you aren't alone! Come on in."

Kageyama's heart secretly drops when he hears those words; he's been somewhat enjoying the one-on-one time he'd been having with [Name]. In fact, this is the first time he'd ever been alone with her before. Aside from their morning jogs, in which they don't talk much during in the first place. And all of it, down the drain in a measly fifteen minutes, foiled by his own upperclassman. Said libero steps foot into the room, gaze locking onto the setter sitting in the bed immediately. They cast each other soft glares as [Name] turns her back to shut the door, either one silently questioning the other's ulterior motive.

Their staring contest is suddenly broken, however, as [Name] claps solidly, smiling as she dives back onto her bed. She lands on one of Kageyama's bare legs carelessly, her shirt riding up high enough to expose her comfy pajama shorts. She grins at her target playfully, the ravenette desperately attempting to withhold his flush. "All right, Tobio. Where were we?"

"U-Um..."

Before he can even regain himself, [Name] rolls off him, sitting criss-cross between his legs at the foot of the bed. She pats the space beside her chipperly. "Come on, Noya-senpai. There's plenty of room."

"Oh, okay!" he grins, running over and jumping into her playfully, bumping shoulders with the girl.

"Open up to whatever it is you need help with. I'll get to you once I'm finished helping Tobio with his problem, okay?" [Name] states, leaning over Kageyama's leg to shut her laptop, seeing as if she probably won't be focusing on her own work for a while. She then faces him with a grin. "All right. What was it you needed help with, again?"

Kageyama can barely contain himself as she scoots a bit closer to his lap, seeing as she's still sat between his legs; he happened to wear shorts to bed today, too, feeling her warmth every time she occasionally brushes up against his calves. He turns his notebook towards her slightly and points. "This one."

[Name] squints at it under the purple LEDs. "Oh, right! See, when you have a difference of cubes, you can factor it using a simple method. There's an acronym to help you remember it. SOAP: same, opposite, always positive. I taught you this earlier, remember now?"

Having been staring at a lock of damp hair that strayed away from the section she has tucked behind her ear, Kageyama barely remembers to listen. He blinks. "Y-Yeah, I think I do."

She beams at him. "Good! Why don't you try it again on your own and see how you do after that?"

"Right..."

"Now, what can I do for you, Noya-senpai?" [Name] turns to the awaiting libero.

"Trig!" he announces with a grin.

"All right, show me what you got!" she playfully pounces on him, leaning against his shoulder as he displays his notebook to her. Nishinoya stares at [Name] as her eyes carefully skim over the problem he first refers to, the space beneath it covered in eraser smudges from his failed attempts to solve it. Her eyes move from top to bottom in a rhythmic sequence, the [E/C] color of them absolutely mesmerizing under the purple light of the room. Her voice snaps Nishinoya from his daydream, however, pulling his gaze back down to his notebook in his lap. "Ah ha! Here, Noya-senpai. This problem is similar to the one I helped you through earlier. You remember SohCahToa, right?"

His brow furrows. "Opposite hypotenuse, adjacent hypotenuse, opposite adjacent...?"

"That's right! Now, here is how you do this one..."

As Kageyama finishes his factoring problem to the best of his ability, he sneaks a glance at [Name] with Nishinoya at the foot of the bed. She no longer sits between his legs, so he carefully closes them so that she doesn't get the chance to do so again. He feels a twinge of jealousy towards his senpai, observing his playful interactions with the girl beside him. Sometimes Kageyama wishes he could have the personality of a high schooler. He envies how much fun [Name] seems to have with more upbeat and energetic people, unlike himself. With a soft sigh, he waits for her to finish helping Nishinoya so that she may look over his work and correct him on any mistakes. Glancing at his phone, he sees that it's 1:36 in the morning. Just three more hours until he and her can go on their morning jog. Then he can be alone with her once again.

But for now, he just listens to the music through the AirPod that [Name] provided him with and scratches her doberman behind his cropped ears. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day, as Karasuno is preparing for their practice match against Ouginishi, [Name] casually walks in, leaving the door open behind her. “Hello, everyone!”

“[N-Name]-san!?” half the team exclaims in confusion, Suga being the closest. “What’re you doing here?”

“Yeah, I thought we cancelled tutoring for today,” Tanaka adds, still happy to see her.

Especially seeing as she’s dressed in something other than her school uniform. The only reason she was wearing it yesterday was because her and Riko had to attend a faculty meeting discussing the summer trips that the Seirin basketball team is going on this year. Today, however, she’s wearing a super flattering floral sundress, which is red and covered in tiny white daisies. It's rather short and form-fitting on her, a bit looser around the bottom, which barely reaches her mid thigh. The spaghetti straps allow her bikini tan lines to be visible. In her hair she wears a warm-colored bandeau headband, pulled towards the back of her head and her front most locks of hair pulled out of it to frame her face. She also wears a pair of simple white air force ones, sporting gold jewelry around her neck and in her pierced ears. To be put simply, the majority of the boys more than just enjoy her outfit for today.

Her smile seems to be brighter than ever. “Well, seeing as I’m out of school and have nothing else to do for today, I thought I’d come watch your practice match! Besides, I needed an excuse to ignore Ryoutacchi for today; love him to death but it’s so hard to hang out with him alone, some times.”

Nishinoya doesn’t really pay attention to the last thing she says, leaping on her and hugging her around her waist, grinning like a little kid. “I’m so glad you could come, [Name]-san! I was so sad when you dropped us off at school this morning because I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to see you today!”

She giggles, ruffling up his hair cheerfully. “I’m glad to see you, too, Noya-senpai!”

“That’s enough, Nishinoya!” Daichi growls, peeling the libero off of [Name] before smiling at her. “Thank you for coming, [Last Name]-san. We’re very grateful you took the time out of your day to watch us play.”

She snorts, punching his strong shoulder playfully. “Stop being so humble, Daichi-senpai! I wanted to come, silly! Is there anything I can do to help set up?”

He shakes his head. “No, no! We’ve got it, so you don’t need to worry! I think Yachi-san is setting up chairs, so you can take a seat when she’s done!”

After hearing this, [Name] glances over to the right, spotting the small blonde to be pulling chairs out of the compartment at the opposite side of the gym. She grins, skipping over. “Then I’ll go help her!”

Daichi sighs, shaking his head with an exasperated smile, seeing as he knows he won’t be able to stop her. “All right, then…”

Therefore, [Name] skids in front of Yachi by the chairs, nearly scaring the girl out of her own skin. “Hitoka-chan, was it? Allow me to help!”

“O-Oh, no, t-there’s no need, r-really!” she stammers, waving her hands nervously. “I’ve got it!”

“All of you here at Karasuno are so modest! Let me help!” [Name] snorts, grabbing not just one, but four chairs. “Where should I put these?”

Not only Yachi, but the entire gym deadpans at [Name]’s inhumane strength and willpower, watching as she marches the chairs over to where Yachi points. They don’t get to watch the girl for long, however, seeing as the opposing team arrives. Kiyoko and Yachi excuse themselves from [Name]’s presence in order to go join the team in greeting them. [Name] smiles as she watches them go and continues to set up chairs for the coaches and managers. 

As they prepare for the game, she stands beside Yachi and Kiyoko as the boys change into their uniforms. Unprepared for them all to take off their shirts right in front of her, Yachi squeals and hides her flushing face behind her hands. Kiyoko is amused by this while [Name] is cackling at Hinata, who’s struggling to pull his jersey over his head.

“Hina-chan, that’s backwards, you idiot!” she snorts, pointing at him as he blushes in embarrassment. 

“S-Stop, laughing, [Name]-san! You too, Suga-senpai!?” he hastily twists it around and tugs it over his head.

Kageyama also teases the redhead as he lifts his practice shirt over his head. “You really are a dumbass, Hinata.”

“Speak for yourself, Tobio,” [Name] mockingly smirks at him.

“Shut up, [Name]!” he barks back, his face turning red compared to his chest and abs.

[Name] snickers at the fact she can anger the ravenette so easily, while everyone else marvels at the fact Kageyama called her by her first name; no one’s ever heard him call anyone by their first name before, much less her. And even though it’s shocking to them, [Name] isn’t even bothered, seeing as she’s heard it already. 

She stops chortling, however, when Ukai walks over and bops her over the head playfully, easily shutting her up. “[Name]-san, don’t go riling these idiots up. Oi! Gather ‘round, you lot, we’re about to get started!”

Groaning, she forces a smile while she rubs the back of her head. “Sorry, Coach.”

Yachi tilts her head at the interaction, which Kiyoko notices and quickly explains, “Coach Ukai and [Name]-chan are family friends. He and his grandfather would visit her family occasionally back in America.”

“[N-Name]-san is from America!?” Yachi gasps softly as Ukai speaks to the team.

Kiyoko nods. “Yes. She was a famous basketball player over there, but seeing as her mother was an olympic volleyball player, [Name]-chan is rather good at volleyball, too. When she’s not helping tutor some of the players in our club, she’s helping them improve their play on the court. Otherwise, she manages the boys basketball team at her high school, Seirin. I haven’t had the chance to see them play, yet, but from what I’ve heard about Japanese basketball, Seirin high has been getting a lot of attention, lately. They made it to the championship match in their Inter-High preliminaries, but I think that’s where they lost… [Name]-chan’s very good at managing, though. You should see the notes she’s come up with for our team, let alone her own.”

Yachi gawks at the girl with [H/C] hair setting up the last of the chairs for the other team’s coach, cheerfully welcoming the older man to a school that isn’t even her own. So, gathered from everything she just heard, she can assume [Name] is a prodigy in not only volleyball, but excels in basketball, too. To be so well-rounded in sports and an academic genius? Yachi wouldn’t have even been able to tell [Name]’s bilingual; she speaks Japanese so well it could be her native language. It’s rather impressive, really, to meet someone so well rounded and versatile. 

Someone so dedicated and passionate about something she's certain about; Yachi can't help but envy her.

"She's like the main character..." she mumbles in awe.

Just then, the team huddles up, Daichi leading a cheer. “Karasuno, fight!”

“Fight!” everyone else repeats before breaking up. 

[Name] returns to the other side of the gym as Karasuno’s regulars take to the court. She gives the chaotic second years as well as Hinata quick high fives as she passes, wishing them luck. Approaching Kiyoko, [Name] can’t help but notice Yachi gawking at the team as they walk onto the court, their seriousness about the sport insanely moving. She smiles sweetly at the blonde as she moves to stand behind her.

“Isn’t it so inspiring?” she asks softly with a smile, earning Yachi’s attention as she watches them get into game mode. “To watch them play is such a treat.”

Before Yachi can reply, Kiyoko calls out to her. “Hitoka-chan, come help me man the scoreboard. [Name]-chan can help you.”

“R-Right!”

After Karasuno brutally destroys Ouginishi in two sets, the two teams thank each other for the match before the latter takes their leave. [Name] stays to help Karasuno tidy up, taking two chairs under each arm, carrying a total of four back to the compartment. She passes by Kageyama, drinking some water from a bottle, who catches sight of her as she passes, wobbling a bit from the weight. He rolls his eyes and wipes his mouth, scoffing as he takes two chairs from her. It seems the two are back to being closer again after last night, playfully arguing with one another like normal. “Don’t carry more than you can handle, dumbass.”

“Oi! I can handle it!” she barks back as they argue past Yachi, who’s praising Hinata for his phenomenal performance as the decoy in the practice match. 

“It was absolutely amazing! I was watching, but it was like-... I-I can’t even put it into words!” she exclaims.

Hinata jumps up and down excitedly. “Did it all just suddenly well up, you know, like ‘WOOSH’?”

Gasp, she nods vigorously. “Y-Yes! Just like that!”

“Then be our manager!” he hollers loudly, startling Yachi.

She suddenly bows. “E-EH!? I’m sorry, but I don’t think I-I’m worthy of being a part of such an impressive team. I-I’m just a Townsperson B who has no knowledge of sports, after all…I’m just going to get in the way-...”

Hinata rubs his chin. “Come to think of it, I was a Townsperson B in middle school, too...”

“R-Really!?”

“Yeah! I got in trouble because I tried to stand out more than the main character,” the redhead announces proudly, hands on his hips.

Meanwhile, while putting some of his chairs away, Kageyama snorts. “Townsperson B?”

Hinata glares at him. “Don’t laugh, you jerk!”

“Tobio, be nice!” [Name] scolds with a smug expression, hitting him in the ass with one of her chairs and he shouts out in pain before glaring at her and yelling loudly. She ignores him and smirks as she continues to put the chair away. “Besides, Townsperson B has a special side to the role that only a Townsperson B can have. Background characters get to write their own stories, you know. Stories that the audience may not particularly get to hear but are no less important than the lead's.”

“Exactly!” Hinata agrees as Yachi processes the words [Name] just told Kageyama, her eyes wide. “Tell me what roles you played in your school plays, Kageyama! I doubt they were any cooler than Townsperson B!”

“I played the moon!” he scoffs.

Suga snorts as he walks past with the volleyball cart. “The moon? Is that part even needed in any play?”

Asahi shrugs beside him. “I played a horse.”

“A horse?” Suga bursts into hysterical laughter, leaving Asahi to blush in confusion as [Name] also turns to snicker, a hand on Suga's shoulder to stabilize herself. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day is Saturday, and Nishinoya and Tanaka announced that they will be attending a study session with the rest of the second years, led by Ennoshita. It took awhile for [Name] to convince them that there was no need to apologize to her and that they weren't "abandoning her". Hinata and Kageyama, however, need as much help as they can possibly get and continue to ask [Name] for her assistance. The former, however, convinces [Name] to come over with them to Yachi’s place instead of her apartment in Kanto, seeing as he really wants Yachi to get to know him and Kageyama and the rest of the team so that she’s more inclined to become a manager. [Name] agrees without hesitation, seeing as she’d love to get to know the girl a bit better, too. She’s also still very thankful to Yachi for helping to tutor Kageyama and Hinata when she could not.

So they study with Yachi at her place until the sun begins to set, which [Name] proposes is long enough, for she doesn’t want to overbear their stay. Yachi walks them to the front to say goodbye. Hinata bows with a smile. “Thanks for agreeing to help tutor us on a Saturday, Yachi-san! The exams are this week, so sorry if we’re a bit stressed!”

“Thanks,” Kageyama also bows politely. 

“Sure! Let’s do our best on the exams!” Yachi agrees happily as her mom walks out the front, dressed very professionally and carrying a briefcase.

[Name] bows to the woman with the purest of smiles. “Sorry for bothering you, Ms. Yachi, and thank you for allowing your daughter and I to tutor these two in your home.”

“No problem. Was she a good teacher to you boys?” the woman steps beside her daughter with a smile. 

Hinata nods. “Yeah! Thanks to her and [Name]-san, I think I’m going to ace my exams, now! At least, I’m pretty sure! Don’t worry, ma’am! I won’t let Yachi-san’s kindness go to waste!”

Kageyama glances at [Name], finger on his chin as he repeats the word in English and its definition in Japanese. “Kindness: ‘to have a caring heart. A term used to express a caring attitude one has for another’...”

[Name] chirps. “Well done, Tobio.”

The woman laughs. “That’s wonderful, dear. And thank you, as well, [Last Name]-san, for helping Hitoka with those math problems she’s been struggling with. It’s comforting to know she has help outside of school and home. In any case, I wish you all good luck on your exams.”

Hinata beams. “Thanks! Let’s all go to Tokyo together, Yachi-san!”

The girl blushes in shock, eyes wide. “R-Right!”

“See you at school!” Hinata waves as Kageyama bows his head once more, and the two walk off down the street with [Name] to go get something to eat with her before she heads back home. “Thanks again, Yachi-san!”

“B-Bye-bye…” she waves as well, shoulders slumping in relief as the three walk off.

Her mother also watches the three as they go. “Hitoka, what’s this about a trip to Tokyo?”

The daughter cringes slightly, seeing as she hasn’t told her mother much about the volleyball club; only that she’s been asked to join as manager. “O-Oh, well-...”

Just then, Mrs. Yachi’s assistant runs up to the building, straightening his tie. “Sorry I’m late, ma’am! Let’s go.”

The woman nods, facing her daughter once more. “All right, I’m headed to a meeting. I’ll be back late again tonight.”

Yachi nods as her mother walks off. “All right.”

The assistant gawks. “Um, wait, m-ma’am!? Wasn’t Hitoka-chan going to tell you something? Should we wait? A-Are you all right, Hitoka-chan?”

The blonde smiles at the assistant; they know each other seeing as he works with her mother everyday. “No, it’s nothing! You go ahead!”

“All right, then. See you later…”

As Yachi turns to head back inside, down the street, Hinata is rereading the notes he took with her today. “Man, Yachi-san’s notes are amazing! Notes should always be like this! And if she joins, we’ll have two managers! We’d sound like a total powerhouse school!”

Kageyama yawns. “Yeah.”

[Name] deadpans. “That’s the reason why you want her to join so badly?”

Hinata ignores this, however, and glares past her at Kageyama for his disinterest. “What? Do you not care if she joins, Kageyama!?”

He shrugs. “That’s totally up to her.”

Hinata sighs as he puts the notebook back into his schoolbag. “You really are hard to sell. You’re not popular with girls, are you?”

Kageyama blushes as [Name] begins laughing at this, glaring past her at the shorter redhead. “Mind your own business, moron!”

Hinata’s worried about other things than Kageyama’s wrath, however, gasping as he rumages through his bag. “Oh, shit! I think I forgot my textbook at Yachi-san’s house! I’m gonna go back and get it. I’ll meet you guys at the restaurant!”

[Name] and Kageyama blink as he runs off back in the direction they came from. The former sighs, running after him. “I’m gonna go make sure he doesn’t get lost again. See you soon, Tobio.”

Sighing through his nose, Kageyama continues walking towards the restaurant. “Yeah, whatever. See you, [Name].”

It doesn’t take long for Yachi to answer the door and fetch Hinata his textbook for him, which he takes with a relieved smile. “Ah! Thank you, Yachi-san! Thank goodness I realized before we were too far from your house!”

As the redhead stuffs the book back into his bag, Yachi bites her lip. “Um, Hinata? Do you have a second?”

Hinata blinks. “Yeah, sure.”

“Well, you see, a couple of days ago, I told my mom that Shimizu-senpai asked me to join the volleyball club as a manager,” she begins to explain, rubbing her arm. “And, well, she told me that the rudest thing I can do to someone is half-ass a job when they’re taking it 100% seriously. And since I don’t know much about volleyball, I don’t know if I can perform 100% as your team's manager compared to how much everyone else loves the sport ....”

He blinks, forgetting [Name] is even standing beside him. “You’re not sure you want to join because of something like that? If you’re worried you might not be taken seriously, I’ve hit Kageyama in the back of the head with a serve, puked in Tanaka-san’s lap, and accidentally knocked the vice-principal’s toupee off at my first day of practice. And I’m still playing volleyball just fine!”

Yachi’s eyes are wide as [Name] struggles to contain her laughter. “Y-You were really fine after all that?”

“Yup!” he confirms before tilting his head. “Don’t you want to do this, Yachi-san?”

“W-Well, yeah…”

“Then you totally should!” Hinata advises.

[Name] notices, however, as Yachi bites her lip once more. She puts a hand on Hinata’s shoulder, stepping forward to speak to the blonde comfortingly. “Is what your mother said before still bothering you, Hitoka-chan?”

Eyes wide, she looks away nervously. “Oh, u-um, no… I-It’s just that, um…”

As she glances back at [Name], she can see the warmth behind her kind smile and the understanding gleam within her electrifying eyes. In addition to that, Yachi becomes a stuttering mess when the girl before her takes both of her hands into her own small and warm palms. The feeling is so foreign, yet... so natural. The blonde feels as if she's melting in the honey-sweet tone of [Name]'s voice and touch. “If it is, then why don’t you go talk to her?”

Before Yachi can even agree, she’s being dragged by both [Name] and Hinata, a hand on either one of her wrists, towards the train station that her mother frequents. She can barely keep up with the two speed demons, constantly stumbling over her own feet in order to keep balanced. She feels like the constantly confused character in a shoujo manga, conflicted between two protagonists. She can't decide which one of them to stare at; which one should she accompany as a side character? Who should be the lead to her clumsy comic relief? And once they reach the train station, said two protagonists let Yachi go and face her as she doubles over to catch her breath, not used to such a fast pace. 

[Name] takes the time Yachi recovers to say one last thing to her in order to motivate her a bit more. Crouching down, she gingerly caresses the blonde's cheeks in her palms. “Hitoka-chan… At the stage you’re at, you can’t move forward. I know it’s hard, believe me. But if you truly want to go through with this, then you need to tell her.”

Hearing this snaps the girl out of her flustered daze, and Yachi seems to realize something internally, straightening up with a determined expression and a sharp nod. “Right. I have to tell her. Thank you, [Name]-san, Hinata.”

Therefore, the three sprint into the train station, barely making it in time to see Yachi’s mother and her assistant scan their passes and enter. Yachi stops at the other side of the scanners before calling out to her. “MOM!”

Everyone in the train station looks to see what’s going on, including her mom, eyes wide at the sudden surprise. “H-Hitoka?”

Steadying her breathing, the blonde nods before continuing. “Townsperson B can write their own story! I’m going to be the volleyball club’s manager!”

As everyone else in the train station is confused beyond perplexion, her mother blinks, eyes wide with a shocked smile on her face. “I-I see! Do your best!”

“I will!” Yachi promises confidently. “Oh, and what do you want to do for dinner?”

“I-I’ll eat at home,” her mother tells her, still not over the announcement. 

“Roger that!” Yachi salutes, the assistant amused by the interaction as the blonde turns to face [Name] and Hinata behind her, both of them grinning at her as they shoot her a thumbs up each. “I did it…”

“All right!” Hinata cheers. “Two managers!”

[Name] kicks him in the side. “That’s not the point, Hina-chan!”

Yachi approaches them. “U-Um, Hinata? I have a favor to ask you and Kageyama-kun…”

At this, [Name]’s eyes widen as she pulls out her phone, cringing at the three missed calls that pop up in her notifications. “Shit! We left Tobio all alone at the restaurant! He’s gotta be pissed…”

Hinata’s eyes widen, snatching Yachi’s wrist and running off. “Shit! You can ask us at the restaurant, Yachi-san, let’s go!”

Watching them go, Yachi’s mother sheds a few tears of joy, her assistant handing her a tissue with a knowing smile. After explaining to a very irritated Kageyama over dinner, he and Hinata agree to Yachi’s favor, accompanying her and [Name] back to the volleyball gym after eating. And with her fancy camera she grabbed at her house, Yachi snaps a couple shots of Hinata spiking the toss [Name] sets up Kageyama to throw. And later that night, as Kageyama and Hinata head home after saying bye, [Name] turns to Yachi with a knowing smile.

“Hitoka-chan, I can’t help but wonder,” she says to her as they both walk along the lamplit streets together. “Takeda-sensei told me about being short in fundings for their upcoming trip, so I offered to help pay for them, but he constantly refused. Seeing as your mother works for a design firm, I can’t help but think you’re using these pictures to create some flyers.”

“Wow! You have amazing intuition, [Name]-san!” Yachi praises. “I was thinking hanging up some flyers would help pull in donations for the team…”

[Name] grins. “If that’s the case, allow me to help! That is, if you don’t mind…”

“Please, I could use all the help I can get,” she chuckles nervously. “My mom won’t be home until a bit later, so she can’t help until then.”

“Well, we can at least get started!” [Name] hypes as they head back to Yachi’s place. “If we can finish them tonight, I can pay to print them out and have them hung all over the prefecture by morning!”

The next day, while Hinata’s riding his bike through town, he can’t help but notice a poster hanging from a shop window on the side of the street. Stopping, he leans on one leg to balance the bike and look at it with wide eyes. He’s the center of the piece, hair covering his eyes as he leaps through the air, about to spike the ball. On his left side of the poster is the Karasuno gym, while on the right is the national one in Tokyo. In bright red kanji, it reads ‘The Crows Head to the National Skies Once Again’. And at the bottom, in a smaller black font, it reads, ‘The Karasuno Volleyball Club is requesting donations’. And right next to the arm that he uses to spike, he can read ‘The Tiny Giant returns’. 

Thinking back to [Name]’s and Yachi’s idea for a poster, Hinata can’t help but grin thinking about the girls. “Amazing…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I think this chapter is cute. I had so much fun writing it. I can't wait to write cute little scenes with more characters. Say what you want about filler but... I like it :)))))
> 
> Also I know I kind of change things up about the canon storyline a lot. That's mostly for convenience purposes. Like, I know Tokyo isn't a two hour drive from Miyagi, but at the same time, it would be unrealistic for [Name] to be making full day road trips from Kanto to Karasuno every day just to tutor a bunch of idiots lmao. So I shortened it down a good deal. And I've also mentioned the whole Japanese vs American education system before. I'm not familiar with Japanese schooling, so to avoid making inevitable mistakes, I just write as if they're in an American school system (which is gross but whatever). You'll probably notice small changes like this every so often, so I ask that you pretty please be patient with me.
> 
> Thank you all again for your support and amazing comments. I hope you all had an amazing day >:)


	19. Conflict

The following week is full of exams for Karasuno, and on Thursday, they’re finally finished. [Name] constantly calls to check in and ask how everyone thought they did after every single one. And Takeda has been receiving calls all week from people who have been seeing the posters she and Yachi had put together and making donations to the club. Friday, the exams are handed back, completely graded, and the imbecilic quartet pray for their lives. 

In the end, while Tanaka and Nishinoya barely scraped by with passing scores, Kageyama and Hinata both ended up failing just one of their exams: English. 

Suga sighs. “Hinata, you failed English? But you were so confident.”

“Apparently, he only figured out a minute before the exam ended that he filled in his scantron answers one off,” Tsukishima explains, his tone almost sounding...sad. As if he holds pity for the poor boy.

As the two mope in the club room, [Name] bursts in without warning, having gotten the news from Daichi moments earlier. Some of the boys screech in surprise, seeing as they’re standing in their underwear and changing, but [Name] doesn’t even bother to notice them as she approaches Hinata and grabs his exam sheet from him, looking over it thoroughly. Tears form in her eyes as she tosses it aside and grabs the hopeless Hinata by his shoulders, shaking him as she tells him, “ALL YOUR ANSWERS WERE RIGHT, HINA-CHAN! YOU DID SO WELL!”

Daichi sighs as he watches Hinata sob while [Name] shakes him to try and cheer him up. “As for Kageyama’s problem, the exam this year focused on reading comprehension rather than the definitions he worked so hard on memorizing.”

[Name] then looks at Kageyama’s answer sheet before shaking him with teary eyes too. “Tobio, you scored perfect on the short answer portion of the exam! Your studying paid off, it’s the education system’s fault you failed! How can I convince their English teacher to let them go to Tokyo? Do you think she takes bribes? I can do anything, what does she want? Wealth? Popularity? Fame? Oh! Sexual favors?”

At that last offer, the boys burst into flames, blushing as Kageyama ceases her shaking by grabbing her wrists and slapping her over the head. “D-Don’t say such crude things, i-idiot!”

She blinks, rubbing the area he hit. “But I’ve seen your English teacher before, Tobio. She’s hot as fuck.”

Tanaka screeches, face tomato red as he begins shaking the girl by her shoulders. “[N-Name]-san, don’t tell me you swing the other way!?”

At this, she can’t hold her facade any longer, bursting into giggles. “Why, I swing both ways, Tanaka-senpai. Though, I was kidding about your English teacher. I'm afraid that I may be a bit too young for her.”

The shaved left wing blinks a couple times before he and Nishinoya collapse into a blushing stuttering mess; for some odd reason, knowing that [Name] swings not just one way, but multiple ways made her ten times more attractive in their eyes. 

“Does that mean your bisexual, [Name]-san?” Suga wonders aloud.

“I could care less what you decide to label it. I suppose I'm open to anyone as long as their heart is in the right place," she shrugs.

As [Name] timidly picks at her fingernails and stares at the floor, the majority of the boys blush after hearing what she had to say. Of course they've been close with the girl for a good while, now, but none of them expected her to open up about her sexuality to them quite like that. Tanaka and Nishinoya continue to squirm, seeing as it's not just both ways, anymore, but all ways, to an extent. Meanwhile, Kageyama and Hinata are too busy planning on how to get to Tokyo on their own to be paying attention to the incredibly eye-opening conversation, seeing as the team bus would be leaving before supplementary classes would be over.

“How do we get there? Should we run?” Kageyama asks. 

“Nah, we need bikes,” Hinata suggests instead. 

[Name], desperate to shift attention away from her sexuality before anyone else can ask anymore questions, turns to face them at the sound of this, the wickedly excited grin on her face scaring more than just a few people in the club room that day. “I’ve got an idea.”

Seeing as each of them only failed one exam, they finish the supplementary exam early in the morning of the first day of break. And as soon as they do, they bolt through the halls towards the front entrance of the school, where [Name]’s waiting for them, wearing an orange crop top with spaghetti straps and high waisted denim shorts that are intensely ripped and frayed, held up with a black belt. Two silver chains drape from said belt on her right side. She wears the same bandeau headband from the practice match, as well, along with a pair of custom orange and red vans. Her outfit isn’t what makes the two stop in their tracks, however; instead, it’s the fact that she’s leaning against the custom wrapped Tesla that Nishinoya and Tanaka gawked at the first time the four of them went home to study with her.

Hinata gasps, pointing at the vehicle. “[N-Name]-san!? This is your car!?”

She clicks a button on her keys, the wing doors opening up in the back. “Yeah, but do me a favor and don’t tell anyone about it, yeah? I try to keep this car on the DL, but I’m breaking it out today because it’ll get us to your training camp a lot quicker than my other car. And it’s more sustainable for the environment, so I like to whip it out occasionally! One of you hop in the back and someone else can have shotgun.” 

With Kageyama in the back and Hinata up front, [Name] grins at them. “Seatbelts on. And don’t let this trip influence your perception of my driving skills at all, because it’s gonna have to get a bit reckless if we wanna make it to Tokyo on time.”

And before they can even respond, [Name] steps on the gas and swerves out of the parking lot of the school, speeding through backroads without much care for the law. It gets a bit smoother on the highway, though, even if she’s going around fifteen miles over the speed limit. It’s tranquil enough for Kageyama to lay down and fall asleep in the back, at least. Hinata, however, seems to be deep in thought.

Noticing this, [Name] reaches over and rubs his hair playfully. “Don’t be so distraught, Hina-chan. There are some flowers you can only see while taking a detour, you know.”

He beams at this. “I don’t always understand what you’re saying, [Name]-san, but you always sound so cool when you say things like that.”

She giggles at him. “It means that even though it sucks that you failed your exam, at least you get to ride with me over to Tokyo and show up fashionably late! Think of how cool it will look when you and Tobio arrive, and everyone stops what they’re doing to watch you walk into the gym!”

His brown eyes twinkle. “You really think it will be like that!?”

“Who knows? Maybe it will,” she grins before rolling her eyes at Kageyama in the rearview mirror, snoring in the back. Smirking mischievously, [Name] pulls out her phone and hands it to Hinata, opening the camera and ordering him to take a picture of the boy snoozing comfortably. “Take a picture of Tobio while he’s sleeping, Hina-chan.”

“O-Oh, sure, okay,” the ginger takes her cell phone gingerly, unbuckling his seat belt in order to lean around his seat for a better angle. “What’s it for?”

“Why, potential blackmail, of course,” [Name]’s smirk is cruel, scaring Hinata a bit as he hands her phone back to her, the picture taken. She thanks him before jolting the car a bit to the left, swerving the steering wheel back into place before she can drive out of her lane. However, the force of the movement is enough to send Kageyama sliding in the back, hitting his head against the door handle and forcefully waking him up with a groan. [Name] snickers, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Oops.”

He groans, sitting up and rubbing his head. “The fuck was that for, [Name]!?”

Rolling her eyes, she tosses him a sandwich and a bag of chips, along with a juice box. She gives Hinata the same. “You two ought to get some food in you. We’ll be there in less than an hour. Honestly, I think I can risk shaving ten minutes off that hour.”

And with that, as they start eating, [Name] leans onto the gas pedal a bit further, flying across the Inter State with a wild grin. 

Just under an hour later, [Name]’s Tesla swerves into the parking lot of the school the training camp is being held at, drifting straight into a parking spot. The three of them all hop out of the car and sprint towards the gym without a second thought, barely remembering to lock the car as they go. And as Karasuno performs their upteenth flying lap around the gym after another consecutive loss in the practice matches, [Name] swings the doors open, panting a bit as she grins.

“See! I told you, they’re all still at it!” she grins over her shoulder, her arrival gaining the attention of every single one of the five teams in the gym. “Damn, I’m good.”

Nishinoya jumps up from his laps, grinning and waving at her. “[Name]-san!”

Yamamoto from Nekoma falls to his knees at the sight of the new girl. “Karasuno has not just two, but three girl managers!?”

Tanaka cackles at him, hands on his hips. “Kneel before me, city boy, for this is my ultimate power!”

She waves at Noya before stepping aside with a smirk, beckoning the pair behind her in. “Told you. Fashionably late is pretty fucking cool.”

As everyone marvels at Hinata’s and Kageyama’s late arrival, [Name] skips over to where Karasuno is, her hair fluttering behind her. All the boys follow her movements with their gaze, entranced by her cute smile and revealing outfit. That is, however, until she reaches Nishinoya and Tanaka, who glare at every single person in the room that looks at her in the wrong way. 

“Glad you could make it, [Name]-san!” Suga pats her head with a smile.

“Thanks for driving our first year duo here,” Daichi adds gratefully.

“Of course!” she giggles softly, causing them to blush a bit. Suddenly, however, she gasps, pointing at the setter of the Nekoma team. “I know you! We met in the street during Golden Week! Kenma, right?”

The boy blinks indifferently as she jogs over to him, his eyes slightly wider than usual. “O-Oh, yeah. [Name], right?”

She beams, nodding. “Mm hmm! Sorry I couldn’t come to your first practice match with Karasuno. Other plans came up that conflicted with my stay and I had to head back home. I’m honored to be here and see all these teams play, now, though.”

“That’s right. Shoyo told me that you couldn’t be there when I asked him about it,” Kenma recalls softly. “Did you drive him here from his supplementary exams?”

“Yep! Came as fast as I could!” she grins proudly.

By now, Kuroo has approached, putting a hand on Kenma’s shoulder and smirking down at [Name]. “Who’s your cute little friend, Kenma?”

“Oh, I met her in the street the same day that I met Shoyo,” he explains nonchalantly. “When I got lost in Miyagi. Her name’s [Name].”

Before Kuroo can say anything to [Name], Daichi stands behind her, a hand on her shoulder as he glares at Kuroo, a competitive smile on both of their faces as neither backs down from the other. Meanwhile, Ennoshita and Asahi struggle to hold Nishinoya and Tanaka back from intervening. “I see you’ve become acquainted with [Last Name]-san, here. She isn’t an official manager for our team, but she helps out a lot, so please welcome her.”

Kuroo smirks at the fellow captain. “No worries. Of course she can stay. For as long as she-”

The Nekoma captain is cut off by a loud series of retching noises, and [Name] cranes her neck at the speed of lightning only to see Hinata buckled over by the door, a puddle of bile at his feet. She gasps and runs over as Kageyama yelps in disgust. “Dumbass!”

“Hina-chan!” she grabs the boy’s hand and drags him outside in order to help him work through the rest of it before cleaning him up.

It takes a while, but [Name] eventually was able to soothe the decoy’s nerves. After Hinata and Kageyama impress the other four teams with their astounding performance and killer quicks in the games, the practice matches come to an end. After they get settled in lodging, [Name] is housed in the same room as the managers, but of course she breaks the rules and sneaks out to hang out with some of the boys. She sits with Hinata, Kenma, and another boy from Nekoma named Inuoka. As she watches Kenma play his mobile game, she also listens to their conversation about Nekoma’s new middle blocker; some tall kid named Haiba Lev, who’s half-russian, half-japanese. 

“What does Lev mean in Russian, again?” Kenma asks with a yawn. “Tiger, or something?”

“It means ‘lion’,” [Name] corrects nonchalantly and Hinata gasps.

“[Name]-san, how many languages can you speak!?” he exclaims, eyes full of wonder.

Eyes wide, she waves her hands defensively. “I-I can’t speak Russian, Hina-chan! I just know a couple of words. I-I can only speak four languages fluently.”

“Four!?” Inuoka gasps, just as amazed.

“Japanese, English…” Hinata counts off on his fingers. “And what else?”

“Well, Latin, but that doesn’t count for much, seeing as it’s a dead language and all,” she chirps shyly. “And French. My mother required that I learned those along with Japanese growing up.”

"FRENCH!?" Hinata hollers. “WOW! [Name]-san, you’re so cool!”

“That’s pretty impressive, [Name],” Kenma also admits with a nod. “The language of love is very difficult to comprehend.”

Hinata blushes when he realizes [Name] can speak the language of love while she giggles cutely at the comment, teasing Kenma for calling it that as he stoically insults her back playfully. Meanwhile, other players from Nekoma watch the interactions with wonder, marveling at the fact that Kenma, who’s usually introverted and quiet, is interacting and talking with other people, even allowing the girl to play with and braid his hair.

The next day, [Name] blends in with the managers, cheerfully helping with towels and filling waters. She even gets to sit beside Yachi and Kiyoko on the bench whenever Karasuno plays a set, along with Ukai and Takeda. And as they play their third set against Nekoma - Kageyama’s and Hinata’s first against Nekoma, seeing as they were late the day before - she cringes at this new guy, Lev, blocks Hinata’s quick attack on the second try. Hinata had told her about the conversation he had with the tall first year student with gray hair the night before, and she’d be lying if she didn’t admit she isn’t a little bit worried about the ginger.

And she’s unfortunately proven correct to be concerned when Hinata subconsciously jumps for a toss that isn’t meant for him, but for Asahi. The tiny middle blocker smacks into the ace unknowingly, sent flying to the floorboards as Asahi misses the spike in order to frantically ask him if he’s all right.

To his surprise, Hinata jumps up and bows at the third year’s feet. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please forgive me! I wasn’t paying attention! That was your toss! Are you okay!? I’m sorry!”

As Asahi tries to calm Hinata down, both Ukai and Kageyama yell at the moron. And when the match resumes, the atmosphere grows very tense between Karasuno. Even [Name]’s gentle smile has wavered, her lips pulled back tightly and her eyes narrow as she concentrates on the match. Her eyes flicker over momentarily to see Nekoma’s coach, Nekomota, smirking wisely at the Karasuno regulars, his eyes meeting her’s for a millisecond. Her optics flicker gold for that brief encounter before glazing back to the match.

She watches as Hinata walks over to Kageyama, getting his attention. “Hey, Kageyama…”

“What?” the setter side eyes him.

“The quick attack that goes ‘woosh’...” Hinata begins, staring deep into Kageyama’s eyes. “I’ll stop closing my eyes.”

Everyone double takes when they hear this comment, eyes wide. Even [Name] has to blink a couple times before she can comprehend it. Everyone but Kageyama, who gives the shorter spiker an ominously questioning look, intimidating the ginger. “Huh?”

Hinata grimaces before sighing. “We can’t keep going on like this. It’s no good doing a fast attack that you let me hit.”

Before he can explain anymore, Kageyama stops him. “You learned the normal fast attack because the other one was something you couldn’t manage, right? I don’t know what’s going on with you right now, but if you have something to say, than I’ll listen later. But if you’re saying you’re going to try and do all that right now, I have no intention of tossing the ball to someone who I know is going to miss.”

[Name]’s eyes narrow further, gleaming a solid gold as they dart to each player of the team, her expression somewhat grim. And Kageyama keeps his word, not tossing to Hinata for the rest of the set. Karasuno loses 18-25, performing flying laps around the gym. [Name] smirks cockily as she watches them go, noticing the newfound determination Hinata accidentally sparked into all of them. His greed to rapidly evolve is pushing the rest of them to do better in order to just try and keep up with him. Full team evolution is on the horizon.

As they finish, they gather before Takeda, who smiles at them. “You guys are the weakest of the teams that are here right now, right?”

They all deadpan at this statement, but can’t really argue against it. [Name] snickers. 

Therefore, Takeda continues. “If we were to have an official match with any of these teams, they would be difficult opponents. Do you see them as just an enemy, or do you see them as an opportunity to learn from them and grow? To observe and absorb their techniques and strategies by playing? The fact that you are the weakest team here means that you have the most potential for growth. Nothing could possibly be more fun than that!”

And somehow, yet again, Takeda takes something so negative and completely turns it around into something motivational. Ukai shoots the teacher a thumbs up. “Even though you sound like a teacher, that was a really trustworthy speech, there. Thanks a lot!”

Takeda deadpans. “Well, I am a teacher, so…”

Meanwhile, Suga the mediator takes the feuding first years aside before their next match, trying to bring the two to some sort of agreement. Just in case, Ukai follows them outside. [Name] decides that maybe she, too, should catch what’s going on when Kageyama storms back inside alone, rather calm, sans the grim expression on his face. She brushes past him without a word and leans beside the door, eavesdropping on the conversation going on between the coach and two remaining players.

“Sorry, Hinata, but I have to agree with Kageyama,” Suga admits softly. “That quick attack is amazing already. We should focus on perfecting the rest of our plays while keeping that one at the core of our offense.”

“And I’d have to second what Sugawara said,” Ukai nods. “You say you want to fight on your own will, but that deviant fast attack of yours depends on a split-second decision. I honestly don’t think it’s possible to figure out what to do in that split second while mid-air.”

Hinata blinks. “But when I’m doing well, it’s as if I can see everything in slow motion while I’m at the pinnacle of my jump, just like Tanaka said that one time in our practice match. It’s like, I can see the opponent’s block really clearly, and then focus on the spot where the light passes through; the perfect place to hit the ball. Sometimes, I can see it.”

Ukai ponders this a moment. “Well, there are times where blocks are more visible than others, Hinata. Sometimes you remember those blocks more than others.”

The middle blocker shakes his head. “During the practice match against Seijoh. The last point… The Great King… I could see Oikawa-san’s face. I could see his eyes.”

Ukai seems shocked at first before smiling, amused. “So you imagined it? Like you felt like you could?”

Once again, he shakes his head. “The first time I nailed that fast attack in the three-on-three, I could see the other side, too. I saw what it looked like at the top of the summit. What it looked like to peer over the tall, tall wall looming above.”

Ukai scratches head. “I’m sure that’s what it felt like, right-...”

However, when the Coach sees the look that gleams in the shorter player’s eyes, he loses his words, no longer questioning him. A look full of pure seriousness and determination; it’s almost scary. As Ukai gazes at the boy in wonder, Daichi approaches [Name] inside. She gestures with her head, and the captain nods. “Hey, you guys. We’re about to start the next set.”

Hinata and Suga apologize and run back inside, stepping past [Name] as she stands beside the doors, arms folded as she looks at the stunned Coach, who still hasn’t budged. Her expression is grim. “Keishin-kun… I know you’re aware it exists outside of basketball…”

He jumps at her voice, looking at her as she joins him outside. His brows furrow. “Are you sure, [Name]-san? Could he really…?”

With a sigh, she shakes her head, glaring at the concrete beneath her sneakers. “You never really can be sure when it comes to the capability of a player entering… I’d have to see him at ‘the top of the summit’, as he said, to try and predict it for myself. One thing I know for sure is that it’s more than possible with his dedication to the sport. Volleyball is all that dork thinks about. To be that passionate is only the first step…”

Ukai sighs, hands on his hips. “I guess we can’t really be sure, then. But, if what he says is true and he really can make his own decisions while in the air, then we’re going to have to find a way to help him use that ability to our advantage.”

“We won’t be sure unless he does it for himself,” [Name] agrees before they head back inside to begin the next set against Fukoradani. 

Before it can begin, however, Ukai faces one of the second years. “Narita. Switch out with Hinata for now.”

The nonregular’s eyes widen. “O-Oh, sure!”

Everyone watches with pure shock as the coach approaches the benched middle blocker. “No matter what it is that you believe you can accomplish, I think you need to take the time to chill out today. I can’t possibly believe that letting you try anything new in your current condition is going to succeed. I simply can’t risk letting anyone else get hurt if another collision like earlier were to happen. Why don’t you sit with [Name]-san instead of joining the rest of the team, for now. I think you’ll be interested in what she might have to say.”

Somewhat deflated, but keeping his head held high, Hinata marches over to the bench, sitting in the spot beside [Name], who’s smiling at him sweetly and watching him the whole way. She glances at him as he stares straight ahead. “Hina-chan… I managed to overhear what you told Coach Ukai earlier, and I have to admit; if you can really do that, it’d be a rather remarkable play. Your quicks would become nearly impossible to beat. I also believe that you are more than capable of what you say. That you can fight mid-air.”

Eyes wide, he turns to look at her. “You do…?”

She nods, her thin smile genuine. “Yes. However, it’s very risky… You see, I don’t know if I can even explain it to you, but…. Your passion for volleyball is immense, Hina-chan. It’s obvious that you wish you could spend all your time improving on your play. I get that. And that passion may lead to a state of mind you’d never imagined to be possible while you play. I want to be there when you reach this point, for your vision will become so clear that you’ll always know the correct placement to hit your spikes every time. For today, however, I agree with your coach. I think it’s best if you take this time to organize your thoughts; I can tell they’re getting a bit jumbled up, after the last set.”

With a sigh, he nods. “Right…”

“And Hina-chan?” 

“What is it?” he answers softly.

Turning to look at her, he finds [Name] to be beaming supportively at him, sending jolts of electricity through his fingertips. “There’s no point in trying to steal the title of ace from Asahi-senpai if you’re already the best decoy in Japan.”

Once the day is over, Karasuno packs up to return home for the weekend. They’ll travel back to Tokyo on Monday in order to attend the week-long training camp held at Shinzen, where the really intense practice matches will begin. After that, they’ll have the remainder of the summer to train on their own before the preliminaries for the Spring Tournament will begin. Before they all board the bus to go home, Ukai discusses the trip with [Name] before she heads back to her own home in her shiny Tesla.

“[Name]-san. Once the weekend’s over, our training camp will begin at Shinzen,” he explains lowly and privately with her. “I know it isn’t my place to ask, but is it possible for you to attend that week? I could really use your help in aiding this team to evolve before the tournament, and those eyes of yours are masterful for coming up with the best plays and strategies for them to practice as a team. So, think you could tag along? As long as it doesn’t overlap with any of your basketball schedule, that is?”

Her grin is mystifying as she straightens the bag strap over her shoulder. “It’d be my pleasure, Keishin-kun! It shouldn’t conflict with my basketball trip at all, seeing as we leave the Saturday after the last day of the training camp. Of course I’ll have to pack extra in order to head straight from the camp to the beach and meet my team there, but that shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

Eyes wide, Ukai thanks her with a grin. “Thanks, [Name]-san. I really appreciate all that you do for this team.”

She returns the grin. “It’s my pleasure. I’ll follow you guys home, seeing as I left one of my bags in the Karasuno gym the other day.”

Ukai sighs, ruffling her hair playfully. “Idiot.”

Back at Karasuno, as the team begins to head out, [Name] just pulls in as they’re all walking home. She hops out of her luxurious car and jogs towards the gym in order to grab her forgotten belongings, shocked to see that the lights are on. Peering inside, she isn’t as shocked to see Hinata and Kageyama wheeling the ball cart out from the closet.

With an amused smile, she yawns with a hand on her hip. “You two haven’t left yet?”

“Oh, [Name]-san,” Hinata greets her stoically. “Would you mind dishing out a few balls before you head back home?”

Rolling her eyes, she playfully salutes. “Yes, sir.”

As [Name] tosses Kageyama the first ball, he sets it backwards to Hinata. Both the setter and [Name] realize right away that Hinata’s eyes are open as he goes for the spike, and seeing as his attention is on the ball, he doesn’t focus as much on the power behind the jump. Therefore, he doesn’t reach his full vertical height, missing the swing completely as the ball hits the floor on this side of the net with a thud. 

The decoy isn’t shaken, however, his determination swelling. “Again.”

Therefore, this goes on for the rest of the tosses, until the cart is completely empty. And with every toss, Hinata grows more restless as Kageyama grows more irritated. Licking her lips, [Name] begins to go collect the missed balls as Hinata demands another try. Kageyama’s fists clench as he watches the girl gather the balls, his glare then shifting to the spiker, out of breath from repeatedly missing the spikes.

“Instead of repeating this attack that we may not even be able to do, we should be focusing on the attacks we already have; serving, blocking… You have plenty of other options to practice already!”

Hinata pants, muscles tensing. “But… if this fast attack doesn’t work out, I have no reason to be standing on the court!”

Kageyama steps towards him, raising his voice. “That’s why I’m telling you that your will isn’t necessary for this fast attack! I’ll put up tosses for you that won’t get caught up by any of the blockers!”

Hinata’s voice cracks as he glares right back up at the setter, his eyes on the brim of tears. “But that means I won’t be getting any better!”

Kageyama’s eyes widen at this, but he doesn’t back down. “The first round of the Spring Nationals preliminaries is next month. It’s right around the corner. And when the time comes, which is the more useful weapon: a perfected fast attack or a completely useless one? Which!?”

[Name] drops the many balls she’s holding in her arms as Kageyama grabs Hinata’s collar, yelling the question in his face. She begins to panic a bit as she keeps her tone gentle. “Hey, you two shouldn’t be fighting-...”

Hinata doesn’t back down either, however, grabbing Kageyama’s wrist. “I want a strength that lets me fight on my own!”

Pissed, Kageyama throws Hinata to the floor, the volume of his voice echoing in the gym along with the thud that comes from the boy landing flat on his back. “And your selfishness is going to break the team’s balance!”

[Name]’s breathing becomes a bit shaky as she takes a nervous step forward, not wanting to set either of the two boys off. “P-Please, why don’t we settle this-...”

Her pacifist nature doesn’t seem to help the situation, however, as the two glare at each other, Kageyama looking down at Hinata, laying flat below him. “To win, I’ll toss to anyone I need to. And if I don’t think you’re good enough to win, I won’t toss to you. And that hasn’t changed. Even now.”

Hinata growls lowly as the ravenette begins walking away, jumping up and pouncing on him aggressively, trying to tackle the taller boy to the floor. “KAGEYAMA!

Eyes wide, Kageyama stumbles but keeps his balance, grabbing at the boy’s shirt and trying to tug him off. “Damn it! Let go!”

Hinata glares at the setter, tightly clutching his torso as Kageyama grabs a fisful of his fiery hair. “I won’t let go until you put up another toss for me!”

Grunting with a malicious expression, Kageyama lifts Hinata off of his feet, spinning around in order to gain momentum and throw the boy back down on the floor once more, causing the ginger to groan in a bit of pain before hopping back up and jumping at him again, grabbing at his shirt and his chin. Kageyama puts a hand flat on Hinata’s face in an attempt to push him away. Nearly on the verge of tears, for some reason, [Name] trembles, unable to move. Sure, Kuroko and Kagami have their squabbles from time-to-time, but they’re never intense enough to last longer than a few jabs and insults; the worst it got was during the Shutoku match. She hasn’t had to handle confrontation like this before, and she’s unsure how to go about it.

“Stop fucking around!” Kageyama barks, unable to pry him off this time.

“But they were able to stop our amazing quick attack! Today, and back during the Seijoh match!” Hinata retorts, voice cracking with emotion. 

Kageyama fumes. “Are you saying my toss wasn’t good enough!?”

“No! That’s not it!” Hinata snaps back, clinging onto the ravenette’s shirt. “It was perfect! It was spot on! And yet, it was still stopped! If I stay the way I am now, I won’t be able to stand my ground against the top teams anymore! I’ll always be stopped! I want to get better! I don’t want this to be my limit! I want to improve!”

Gasping, blinking a couple tears away from her eyes, [Name] connects the reasoning behind this fight to the similarities between the tensions that Kagami and Kuroko shared after the Touou match. How each one no longer wanted to rely on the other; to improve in their own ways before they can help one another again. Realizing this, [Name] snaps back to reality, beelining towards the two as they claw at one another.

“G-Guys! Don’t fight! This can all be resolved peacefully if you just-...”

As [Name] gets within arm’s range, Kageyama’s hand slips from Hinata’s face and accidentally slams into her temple, sending her crippling to the floor, knocked out cold. Neither of the boys even notice, however, locked in the heat of the moment as they fight one another. Fortunately, the ruckus is loud enough for Yachi to overhear as she’s passing by the gym, planning on heading to the bus stop to get home. She peeks inside, and once she realizes the gravity of the situation, she panics and runs to get help. Barely a moment later, she runs back with Tanaka, who sprints into the gym to find the two first years aggressively throwing punches at one another and shoving each other to the ground, almost stepping on an unconscious [Name] nearby. 

Fuming, he runs over to the two and punches either one of them across the jaw. “Both of you cut this shit out! What the hell happened here!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! Short little chapter in order to ease y'all into the training camp ;)
> 
> I understand that the timeline is off. Just try not to think about it too hard, lmao. Then it doesn't seem like a big deal. I also understand that I'm straying away from the canon timeline, which leaves a week in between the first half of the training camp and the second one. I'm impatient and the plot I have planned fits better with just a two day gap between the two halves of the training camp, so we're going with it. Sorry if that bothers you :p. 
> 
> Also... surprise! [Name] is bisexual! I mean, come on... look at my profile picture and try to tell me you thought I was straight :| Yeah, that's funny lmao. I can understand if some of y'all aren't comfortable with an mc who has a different sexuality than yours, but fear not! I plan by the end of this story to write individual routes for each love interest as a separate publication. Like a collection of scenes and developments for each character I decide to be a romantic partner towards [Name] which I can add onto at will. I plan for three beautiful girls to be included in this group of suitors: Yachi, Kiyoko, and Momoi. (I'd love to add Saeko because holy fuck but I'm afraid that the age difference is a bit too illegal. Same reason why daddy Ukai is [Name]'s figurative uncle/cousin/family friend in this story). In any case, you wouldn't have to read these routes if you aren't comfortable with the idea of being with another girl! I just ask you respect my decision to include them as potential interests and kind of put up with [Name] whenever she gets flirty with them. Also please be mindful of everyone who does want to read gay [Name] content, because bisexuality is no less valid than any other sexuality! In any case, I doubt I could've kept myself from writing in some LGBTQ+ fluff for much longer. I'm sure most of you picked up on the subtle flirtatious tension/confusion between [Name] and Yachi in the previous chapter ;)
> 
> Also I've been playing around with the idea of [Name] calling Kiyoko daddy as a joke and I'm incredibly tempted to include it in a future chapter. Let me know what you guys think about that lol


	20. Pragmatic

“G-Guys! Don’t fight! This can all be resolved peacefully if you just-...”

As [Name] gets within arm’s range, Kageyama’s hand slips from Hinata’s face and accidentally slams into her temple, sending her crippling to the floor, knocked out cold. Neither of the boys even notice, however, locked in the heat of the moment as they fight one another. Fortunately, the ruckus is loud enough for Yachi to overhear as she’s passing by the gym, planning on heading to the bus stop to get home. She peeks inside, and once she realizes the gravity of the situation, she panics and runs to get help. Barely a moment later, she runs back with Tanaka, who sprints into the gym to find the two first years aggressively throwing punches at one another and shoving each other to the ground, almost stepping on an unconscious [Name] nearby. 

Fuming, he runs over to the two and punches either one of them across the jaw. “Both of you cut this shit out! What the hell happened here!?”

As either of them rub their aching jaws, they just then notice [Name] on the floor, her eyes shut and nose bleeding. Eyes wide, they blink, and Kageyama lifts his hand, gazing at the small dots of blood that stain his fingers. Realizing what he’d done, he begins to stammer. “I-I didn’t mean-... If Hinata hadn’t-...”

“Don’t blame this on me!” he cries out angrily, diving onto him and wrestling him to the ground. “If you’d just listen to me, then this would never have happened in the first place! It’s your fault!”

“If you had never tried to fight me, she would never have tried to get involved!” Kageyama spits, kicking the boy off of him. “You dumbass-...”

Before they can begin to fight anymore, Tanaka grabs them both by each of their shirts, barking loudly at them to establish dominance. “Both of you stop fighting now! Hinata, you walk Yachi-san home, seeing as it’s late. Kageyama, you can stay and have a word with me about what’s going on here and explain to me why [Name]-san is on the floor. Go!”

Hinata and Yachi leave without another word while Kageyama rushes over to kneel beside [Name], sighing in relief when he sees her chest rise and fall consistently. “She’s okay…”

“She’d better be!” Tanaka roars, kicking the ravenette face first into the floorboards beside her. “The hell happened here!?”

Pushing himself back up, Kageyama scoffs, folding his arms. “That jackass and I got into a disagreement, and one thing led to another. [Name] was probably trying to break it up, but I guess we didn’t notice how close she got and she ended up getting caught in the crossfire. Neither of us even heard her. I swear that I had no idea I even hit her. I-I’m sorry…”

“I don’t CARE if you’re sorry, dipshit! The Hell with that! You bruised our precious [Name]-san’s delicate skin! Run down to the corner store and get Coach so that we can get her immediate medical attention!” Tanaka orders, pointing to the doors. “NOW!”

Kageyama doesn’t waste another second, bolting down the hill towards the Sakonoshita Store to get help. As soon as he’s gone, Tanaka sighs, crouching beside [Name] and brushing some of her [H/L] hair out of her face, praying she didn’t receive a concussion from the blow that the setter gave to her head. Even as she lays unconscious on the floor, her beauty remains other worldly; her [S/C] complexion seems to glow ethereally in the moonlight that's sifting into the gym through the door and windows. Tanaka can barely pry his eyes away from her peaceful expression. Once he finally does, he fetches a towel to start cleaning the blood from her nose with, dabbing very gingerly above her lip.

About five minutes later, Kageyama returns with Ukai, both panting once they reach the gym. Grumbling under his breath, the blond angrily orders Kageyama to clean up the gym and go home and for Tanaka to do the same as he carefully scoops the girl up from the floor, bridal style as he jogs her back to his shop down the hill. He lays her down in the back room on a bed with a cool cloth over her head, cleaning the remainder of the blood from her upper lip as he inspects the bruise forming around her right eye. 

About an hour later, he starts from his daze when she moans softly, twitching as she lifts a hand up to lazily pull the rag off her head, slowly sitting up as her eyes flutter open, her vision slightly fuzzy. She groans. “...The hell am I?”

“In my store,” Ukai explains, putting his hands on her shoulders to stabilize her. “Careful, [Name]-san. You got hit in the head; you might’ve gained a concussion from it.”

“Hit in the head? Impossible!” she snorts. “I’m always prepared to deflect any volleyballs sent flying my way.”

Ukai shakes his head, amused by this statement. “Well, it wasn’t a volleyball that hit you. It was the back of Kageyama’s hand.”

She blinks, silent before sighing. “That would explain why this headache is so killer...”

He then continues to dote on her, asking her the standard questions to test for a concussion. He fetches her some painkillers from behind the counter, offering her a bottle of water to go with them. “It seems you’re okay. It’s mild, at worst. But it’s late and I think it’s safest if you stay here for the night. I don’t want you driving home in your condition.”

However, [Name] doesn’t seem to be listening to him, instead gazing at her fingers, intertwined in her lap from where she sits. “Are Tobio and Hina-chan okay…?”

Ukai reels back a bit in shock. “I-I think so. They got into a fight in the gym, so I’ve heard, but Tanaka was able to break it up and send them home. I don’t think either of them got too hurt in the process.”

“Good,” her smile is small, but very sweet and genuine as she takes the painkillers and bottle from his outstretched hands. “Keishin-kun, it’s very important that we allow those two to improve on their own; independently and with neither of them relying on the other.”

“What do you mean, [Name]-san?”

“Well, let’s just say I’ve experienced a very similar situation between the deviant first year pair on my basketball team, recently,” she smiles as she reminisces. “It was right after our loss in the Inter-High; they had a sort of misunderstanding between one another and didn’t talk for two weeks. Then, they both realized that during games, they rely too heavily on the other much too often; and in order to evolve, they needed to improve their own play before they could come together again as stronger, united individuals. I think the same thing is happening between Hinata and Kageyama. In order to evolve as a pair, they need to improve their individual strengths, first.”

Ukai ponders this for a moment, nodding as [Name] swiftly pops the painkillers, washing them down her throat with a swig of cold water. “I think you may be right, [Name]-san. Though it’ll be difficult, I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out soon enough. Now, you should get some sleep. It’s two in the morning.”

Sighing, she nods, wiping some stray water droplets from her lips. “Sleep doesn’t sound too bad, now that you mention it…”

Early the next morning, Ukai barely even flips the sign to open the store when Hinata runs in, a bandage plastered over his bruised jaw. Ukai yawns tiredly. “Oh, it’s you, Hinata. Did you need something?”

“Tanaka-san told me that you brought [Name]-san here,” he states firmly. “Is she all right?”

“Oh, right. She’s in the back, sleeping, but she should be fine,” Ukai stretches out his back and lights his cigarette. “No concussion, but she has a pretty impressive bruise forming from her temple and around her eye. Other than that, she’s completely fine.”

“G-Good…” Hinata sighs in relief. “And if she doesn’t wake up before I leave, can you tell her that I’m really sorry for what happened last night? I feel very guilty for making her want to get involved like that. It shouldn’t have happened…”

“Agreed,” his Coach scowls intimidatingly before sighing. “I’m guessing you had something else in mind other than checking up on [Name]-san?”

Hinata nods. “Coach, how should I practice from now on?”

Eyes wide at the question, Ukai pulls the cigarette out of his mouth and rubs his chin. “Maybe you should stay until [Name]-san wakes up, Hinata… Then I can tell you how you should practice from now on.”

“O-Oh, sure…”

Around half an hour later, [Name] lazily walks out from the back, the bruise that formed around her eye turning dark shades of purple and fading kind of green around the edges. Luckily, it didn’t swell much, so she can keep her eye open pretty well. She rubs it tiredly, wincing when a jolt of pain surges through her cheekbone, just then remembering she had the black eye in the first place. She blinks at Ukai, sitting behind the counter, Hinata beside him.

“Good morning,” [Name] sports her usual warm smile.

Hinata gasps, jumping up and immediately bowing down at her feet. “P-Please forgive me for what you saw yesterday, [N-Name]-san!”

She giggles at him. “No need to apologize, Hina-chan. All good friends and teammates tend to fight every once in a while. It’s natural. In any case, what’re you doing here on your day off? Isn’t today an inspection day for your guys’ gym?”

Ukai stretches, groaning tiredly as he yawns. “Hinata came to ask me what he should do to practice from now on. I said I’d tell him once you woke up.”

She arches a brow. “Oh? And what’s your answer?”

Standing, he calls for his mom to man the store, taking off his apron and gesturing the two follow him outside. “Let’s go for a car ride.”

“Where are we going, Coach?” Hinata asks, sitting in the back of Ukai's truck as [Name] sits passenger side.

“You’ll know when we get there,” he states plainly in response.

After about half an hour of driving through the rural side of Miyagi, they pull up to a small house on the hill of a small town, a bit secluded from the neighbors. Ukai doesn’t even bother to knock on the door, walking around to the back, where a small sand volleyball court is set up with a low net. There, an older man sets volleyballs up for younger kids to work on receiving, an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips.

Smirking, Ukai puts his hands on his hips and calls out to the older man. “Are you sure you should be moving around like that right after getting out of the hospital?”

The old man looks at him, scowling. “If they let you out of the hospital, it means they’re giving you permission to move around all you want. Who’s that you got with you?”

Ukai deadpans as [Name] squeals, brushing past him and hugging the old man, threatening to knock him over, but they keep balanced. “Jiji-san!”

“Chibi-chan!? When did you grow up!?” the man recognizes her with wide eyes, grinning as he ruffles her hair. “And what the hell happened to your eye!?”

“I broke up a fight!” she chirps, barely leaning back from the hug.

“And everyday I continue to wish you were my grandchild instead of that lug over there,” he laughs at her proudly.

Meanwhile, Ukai’s deadpan deepens as he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he points at the man, introducing him to Hinata. “That’s my grandpa.”

“Grandpa…?” Hinata gasps at the man. “Y-You mean, the Coach Ukai!?”

“And who’s this shrimp?” Grandpa Ukai groans.

As the younger kids continue to play on their own, receiving back and forth in pairs, Ukai joins his grandson and the two high schoolers by the house, listening to the current Coach’s explanation of the situation at hand surrounding Hinata’s quick attack and Kageyama’s refusal to cooperate as his setter.

“So, you couldn’t figure out what to do with this weirdo quick attack and helplessly ran away, eh, Coach?” he teases his kin before smacking him upside the head. “You weakling, this is your team, not mine!”

Hinata trembles in fear before the old man, seeing as how intimidating his reputation is. Even his presence is enough to make his knees shake under his weight. The man standing before him was the man who led Karasuno to nationals; the man who coached the Tiny Giant. He’s rather famous, after all. Meanwhile, [Name] smiles at him sweetly, enjoying the reunion with the man she’s always viewed as a third grandfather.

As Ukai-senior turns back to stare down at Hinata, the ginger bows, his voice loud and shaky. “P-Please help me become better!”

He puts a hand on his hip, cocking his head. “With what? I don’t go around smacking random people. Just weaklings.”

Ukai junior scowls as he rubs the back of his head. “You shitty old man…”

Hinata straightens back up, his easily-intimidated nature amusing to [Name]. “I came here to learn how to fight on my own!”

Blinking, Ukai senior smiles at the request. “You want to learn how to dominate aerial combat being that short?”

“I want to because I’m this short!” Hinata corrects him respectfully. Suddenly, grandpa Ukai’s eyes widen, a flash of recognition glimmering through his thin pupils as he looks down on the short and determined spiker before him. Hinata doesn’t quite notice this and continues explaining. “I might sound like I’m saying something weird, but, well…”

“What’s weird about it?” Ukai Sr. asks softly as he leans down and picks up a volleyball on the ground, surprising Hinata. “Even if you’re dealing with an ingenious setter, in the type of attack known as a ‘quick attack’, the ‘absolute pace-setter’ is you, the spiker.”

As Hinata tries to wrap his mind around this, Ukai Jr. arches a brow, just as confused. Noticing this, his grandfather picks him up by the collar and sends him flying as he scolds him. “You’re this kid’s Coach! Don’t look so dumbfounded, you punk!”

[Name] snickers at the younger Ukai being bullied by his grandfather, the blond glaring at her. “[Name]-san, stop laughing or I’ll give your black eye another to match!”

Sighing in exasperation, Ukai-senior continues to elaborate to Hinata. “It’s not even about technique. It’s a problem with your mindset. What do you personally think about this so-called deviant fast attack?”

“Let’s see…” Hinata ponders this for a moment, as if trying to come up with the right words. “It’s like ‘zoom’, and then, with a bang, I jump with all my might, like ‘woosh’! That’s where the toss vrooms in, so I swing with a loud ‘swish’ and it perfectly hits my hand! And like a ‘slash’, we usually nail the point!”

[Name] and younger Ukai deadpan, the latter translating. “What he’s trying to say is that he jumps and hits the toss with his eyes closed, which our setter, Kageyama, sets to him with pinpoint precision so that-...”

“I get what he’s trying to say,” grandpa Ukai waves his grandson off, still staring down at Hinata. “But you’ve got it all wrong, Shrimp. Even for this deviant fast attack, as long as it is indeed a type of quick set, you still hold the initiative of it as spiker. Make sure you drill that into your head. Don’t believe for a second that a weapon you wield is unfamiliar to you. In any case, I guess it’d be quicker if I just showed you. Shrimp, you can try blocking a bit. Even at this height, Chibi-chan probably wouldn’t be able to reach the net.”

The three visitors watch as former Coach Ukai ducks under the short net, joining four elementary school kids on the other side. [Name] huffs at his smirk, arms folded before rolling her eyes and smiling at Hinata. “Go on, Hina-chan. This’ll be an amazing experience for you.”

“Well, you are a middle blocker, aren’t you?” Ukai asks as he approaches the opposite side of the net. “Try stopping all of these.”

The kids on the other side smile at him. “Are you in junior high?”

“What school?” Another adds jubilantly. 

Hinata deadpans. “I’m in high school…”

“Stop messing around. Let’s go!” former Ukai announces, the kids lining up and tossing the ball for him to set. “Third tempo!”

Three of the four children run towards the net for a spike after the set has been tossed into the air. Therefore, Hinata is able to follow the toss over to the left wing, blocking it with ease, if it hadn’t been smacked right into his face. The kid laughs at him and [Name] sighs with a smile. Seems he jumped a bit too high for the grade school level net. Ukai looks at him with wide eyes, grinning, nonetheless. 

“He’s definitely got some spring in his step,” as soon as the kids are back in position, he nods again, calling for the toss. “All right! Second tempo!”

This time, the kids push off towards the net just as the ball reaches Ukai’s palms; right as he sets it, just before the toss. It’s a bit faster than third tempo, but Hinata is still quick enough to follow the toss in the air and block it once more. Ukai smirks, impressed as they line back up. “All right, first tempo!”

This time, the kids start running towards the net as soon as they throw the ball to Ukai, way before the toss even happens. Hinata’s eyes widen, seeing as he won’t be able to follow the ball to the spiker, this time. Instead, he waits for the toss while the spikers are already in the air. He attempts to follow the toss back to the left, but seeing as the spiker is already there to smash it, Hinata has no chance of blocking it in time. 

Eyes twinkling with excitement, Hinata grins at Ukai like a child. “Wow! Amazing!”

The former coach puts his hands on his hips. “Think you can block that?”

“No. Not on my own, at least,” Hinata admits, still simmering. 

“In the three tempos you just saw, was there a big difference in how each spiker hit the ball?” Ukai quizzes him softly. 

“Um, no, I don’t think so…”

“Then what was the difference?” he asks sternly. 

Hinata’s eyes widen as he recalls each tempo. “The timing of their running approach?”

Ukai grins, nodding. “Correct! That’s what tempo is! Listen up: the agility in any attack is determined by its tempo. It’s not how fast or how slow the speed of the toss may be; it’s the timing of the spiker’s running approach. The fastest of the three you just saw is the first tempo. It’s the best way to get around the opponent’s block, and is most likely the quick attack you’ve been doing with this hardhead setter all along, without you even realizing it. But you need to actually understand it. You need to start your running approach before the setter’s toss goes up. The setter tosses to the spiker. Therefore, the deviant fast attack is still an attack with the initiative on the spiker.”

The small ginger heeds every word with wide brown eyes. “First tempo…”

“And so on…” grandpa Ukai ducks under the net, turning to face his grandson standing beside [Name] on the sideline. “I don’t know what kind of special attack this deviant fast attack is, but this much is certain: There is no better toss than the one that is easiest for the spiker to hit.”

And for some reason, these words hit younger Ukai like a bus, his once folded arms falling limp at his sides as he gasps softly. “Just one’s not enough…”

His grandfather raises a brow. “Eh? What’re you going on about-...”

“Hinata! [Name]-san! You two stay here and practice for a bit!” Ukai suddenly exclaims, spinning on his heel and running back towards his car.

“Oh, s-sure,” Hinata nods as [Name] sighs, shaking her head with a knowing smile.

“What a weirdo,” one of the little kids states as the blond coach runs away, getting [Name] to snort in amusement. 

Hinata crouches down and picks up the ball he failed to block during the first tempo, talking to himself softly. “The timing of the spiker’s running approach is everything. One centimeter, one millimeter, one second faster to the top… But that’s not enough. Before now, the only will I had was to reach the summit….”

Ukai narrows his eyes. “But from now on, you also want to fight up at the summit, you say. Hmm… In order for you to do that, your partner’s gonna need some improvement, as well.”

Smiling, [Name] steps forward. “I’m pretty sure Keishin-kun is trying to make something of that now, Jiji-san.”

“I think you may be right,” he hums, smiling as well. 

Hinata grips the ball tightly in his palms. “Kageyama is an amazing guy, so I’m sure he’ll be able to make something work. It’s me who doesn’t want to be left behind. So, please, teach me how to fight at the summit!”

Thinking for a moment, Ukai nods, taking the ball from him. “All right, Shrimp. If you’re gonna fight at the summit on your own, you’re gonna have to start with the fundamentals. So, from now on, you will keep making fast attacks. You need to focus on making up for the amount of practice that you lack.”

“Sorry we’re late!” two teenage girls call, dipping around the corner of the house.

“Ah, there you are,” Ukai greets them. “Shrimp, your task from now on is being able to nail first tempo with anyone and everyone.”

“Got it!” Hinata accepts determinedly. 

“Seeing as your genius setter isn’t here to toss to you, it’s not going to be easy for you to adjust to a different setter’s tosses,” Ukai warns before shoving the ball into the boy’s face. “Also, in order for you to get used to the ball, you need to be handling it constantly. Always. I don’t care if it’s with your hand, with your foot, or even your head; volleyball is a sport where you can’t hold the ball. You’re only allowed to touch the ball for a few seconds. You need to control those few seconds as though the ball were a part of your body. And because your body is small, you need to make up for it with everything else, just like Chibi-chan does.”

The girl blinks, choking a bit when she hears her nickname, seeing as she was zoning out. “Hm? Am I supposed to be doing something, jiji-san?”

He grins at her. “You still are a libero, aren’t you?”

She tilts her head. “Y-Yeah…?”

“Then do everything in your power to keep Shrimp from scoring a point.”

After a bit of reluctant judgement, [Name] decides it's best to stay at Ukai’s store again over driving home, asking some of Hinata’s clothes, seeing as she doesn’t have any to change into for the next day. And seeing as they’re about the same height, she predicts that his clothes should fit her fine. Therefore, once Ukai comes back to his old man's place to pick up [Name] and Hinata together, they stop by the latter's house as they drop him off.

"H-Here you go, [Name]-san," Hinata runs outside of his house holding a folded set of clothes, said girl waiting outside his front door step. "Do you want to come inside and try them on? I-I just want to make sure they fit you okay..."

"Are your parents okay with me coming in?" she asks politely.

"Oh, mama is out getting groceries with Natsu, so you don't have to worry!"

"Okay, then," [Name] is still a bit hesitant as she steps inside Hinata's lovely house. She slips off her gym shoes and bows her head. "Excuse my intrusion."

Hinata laughs. "C'mon. You can try them on in my room!"

She follows him down the hall and into his rather small bedroom, consisting of a mattress on the right and a desk on the left. There are a few volleyballs and t-shirts scattered around on the floor. He doesn't seem to mind the mess and neither does [Name]. Hinata hands her the clothing with a grin. "I'll wait outside for you to finish! Then you can tell me if they fit alright."

"R-Right. Thanks," she beams, taking the plain white t-shirt and black shorts from him. 

He shoots her a quick thumbs up before stepping back out into the hall, shutting the door behind him. Once he's gone, [Name] hastily begins undressing herself, lifting her own t-shirt from over her head and tossing it onto Hinata's bed so that it doesn't get lost in the mess on the floor. She pulls the shirt Hinata provided her with over her head; to think his t-shirt would be somewhat big on her was a bit surprising for her. She supposes that even though she's about an inch or so taller, Hinata's still much broader than her. 

The shorts were the bigger issue. The waistline didn't fit her at all, much too loose. So much so that if she doesn't hold them up, they sag down to cling to her wider hips, failing to cover up the majority of her underwear. She hums, finding the size differentiations between her and the volleyball player to be quite amusing.

"Oi, [Name]-san, are you changed, yet?" said boy calls from the other side of the door.

"Well, yes, but..." upon her confirmation, Hinata opens the door, not prepared to find her holding the t-shirt up high enough to expose half of her stomach, not even to mention the sight of her underwear peeking from the top of the loose waistband stooping down to her hips. "The shorts are just a bit big..."

Eyes wide and face imploding, Hinata slaps a hand over his eyes, his flustered state getting [Name] to giggle. "S-SORRY-..."

"No need to worry, Hina-chan. It's no big deal," she reaches out and gingerly tugs on his wrist, pulling his hand away from his eyes. "This shouldn't be too difficult. I can just roll them up!"

Hinata watches as her fingers hook under the waistband, folding them downward and hiking them up again. He feels as if his face is steaming as he watches her repeat the process several times until they loosely fit the lowest possible area of her waist. She beams at him.

"See? These will do just fine," she tells him.

Hinata nods, clearing his throat as he tries to find the words to respond with. "R-Right..."

[Name] ignores his subtle voice crack, frowning once more as she drops the t-shirt, letting the hem fall over the shorts and reaching her mid-thigh. "There is one small problem, though..."

The ginger spiker shakes off his anxiety at her comment, arching a brow. "What do you mean?"

With a stifled sigh, [Name] puts her hands on her hips. "I can do with the same bra for another day, but I've already gone for a lot longer than I should with this pair of underwear..."

And just like that, Hinata's a nervous wreck again, face nearly reaching brighter hues than his hair as [Name] rambles on about wondering where she can find new panties to wear for the following day. He's still nowhere used to seeing that splotchy bruise painting her right eye. Gathering all the courage he can come up with, Hinata balls his fists. "Y-You could borrow a pair of my old boxers, i-if you want, [Name]-san....."

[Name] blinks at his proposition, not seeming to oppose it. "You're okay with that?"

"Yeah. I don't mind."

"...Then sure! You're a life saver! Thank you, Hina-chan!" she chirps, grinning once more as Hinata goes through one of his dresser drawers. "This saves me so much trouble."

He can't bring himself to look at her as he hands her the pair of pale blue boxers he wears the least. "I-It's no problem. I'll go wait outside again..."

Once he returns, [Name]'s completely changed again, the loose hem of the blue boxers peeking through the top of the rolled up waistband of the black shorts. She grins, thanking Hinata over and over again for his help, which he continuously brushes off in a bit of a dazed state. And as if knowing that she was wearing his underwear isn't enough, Hinata seems to short circuit when his eyes land on [Name]'s clothes on his bed. T-shirt, shorts, cheeky pink panties and all. Luckily, the girl doesn't stay much longer, gathering her belongings and thanking him one last time before running back out to Ukai, who's been waiting for the girl in his truck on the road. 

The next morning, Daichi was able to borrow the Karasuno girl’s volleyball gym for the day, as well, after the girls are done practicing, in order to utilize more space. Everyone has begun practicing individually. Asahi is determined to improve his jump serves (which he asks [Name] for multiple pointers on), Nishinoya wants to learn how to toss from the back, Ukai wants to work with the vice captains and spikers on synchronized attacks, and Kageyama is now determined to perfect this inhuman toss to complete the most impressive fast attack in the world. Meanwhile, Hinata goes back to visit former Coach Ukai to continue working on tempo, but without [Name], this time.

This is because she was approached during practice, Kageyama unable to look her in the eye, seeing as the right one that's blackened and bruised was damaged by his own hand, a small bruise to match it staining his knuckles.. “U-Um-...”

She grins at him, smacking him in the shoulder playfully. “Apology accepted! Whatcha need, Tobio?”

He blinks at her, eyes wide, seeing as she’s so nonchalant about the fact that he accidentally backhanded her and predicted he wanted to apologize before even saying anything. Sighing, he decides not to question it. “Coach came to me yesterday with a request to change my toss to Hinata during our quicks. Instead of one that flies through the point of impact where the spiker hits it, he wants me to figure out a way to put enough spin on the ball that kills its momentum right at the point of impact; the peak of the jump and swing.”

Putting a finger to her chin, [Name] processes this information and nods slowly. “That way, Hinata will have a brief increase of time while he’s in the air to pinpoint a location to hit it onto the opponent’s side of the court; time to see past the opponent’s block. It’s rather brilliant. I’m surprised Keishin-kun came up with it... It might just work…”

“I think so, too, but it’s gonna be difficult for me to perfect in what little amount of time we have before the tournament,” he admits softly. “Can you help me…?”

Eyes wide, [Name] gets over her initial shock and beams at him. “Of course! Keishin-kun’s using the other side of the court with Daichi-senpai in order to work on coordinated attacks, but this side should be free for just us to use. If he expects you to perfect this toss, he’ll allow us to be the only ones using it.”

“Right. Thank you, [Name].”

“Oh, and Tobio…” she looks at him with a sly smile. “You don’t have to worry. Hinata’s greed to improve hasn’t diminished, either…”

The ravenette watches the girl run off to the closet to fetch something with wide eyes before grinning madly at her words. Eagerness and excitement begins to bubble in his chest, his body growing restless to begin. She jogs back out with arms full of empty water bottles, approaching the net and positioning them equal lengths apart very precisely. Kageyama recognizes these as points of attack. A, B, C, D, so on… Once she’s finished, [Name] wheels the cart of balls over and grins at him.

“I’ll set you up. You focus on getting the toss to exactly where you want it.”

He furrows his brows at her, nodding in determination. “Right.”

Kageyama and [Name] train relentlessly for hours, along with the rest of the team in their individual practices, beyond night fall. The former two see absolutely no success in this period of time, but miles of improvement. Starting at the very beginning, after all, is where you’re able to improve the quickest. While Kageyama never hits a single one of the bottles with the fall of his toss, he gets very close on occasion. These are the times he’ll get a bit over excited and quickly yell for another ball, to which [Name] obliges. 

Until finally, hours into the early morning, after everyone’s packed up and gone home, he miraculously hits one of them. He and [Name] both gasp, turning to each other, eyes twinkling as Kageyama pounds his fist into the air. “All right!”

“Amazing, Tobio!” [Name] jumps up and cheers happily, holding a hand up for him to high five. He eyes it for a moment before slapping it with his own, the clap of their two palms connecting so briefly echoing throughout the gym. “I’m beyond impressed that you were able to hit that during our first practice session.”

“Same. I didn’t even think I’d be able to hit one until camp,” he admits, crouching down and standing the bottle back up before he realizes something. “That means I’ll have to find someone else to help me, then. We leave in the morning.”

Biting her lip, [Name] giggles, confusing Kageyama a bit. “Your lousy coach didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“I’m coming to the Fukurodani camp with you lot, too!” she informs him cheekily. “It’s my last week off before I head to the beach with my basketball team for their summer conditioning. I need something to do other than sit at home and work on notes.”

“R-Really?” the corners of Kageyama’s mouth flicker upward very briefly. “So you’ll continue to help me with this while we’re there?”

“Absolutely!” she agrees.

Kageyama grins, returning to setter position. “Another, please.”

She grabs a ball from the cart. “Right!”

The two of them lose track of time while practicing, however, as everyone on the team gathers by the gym to board the bus the next morning at five am. Intrigued by the sound of volleyballs in the gym, Ukai peers in and deadpans at [Name] and Kageyama, practicing just as they were yesterday, dressed in the same clothes. This is obvious, seeing as [Name] still wears Hinata’s white shirt and loose black shorts.

“OI! [NAME]-SAN!” Ukai roars, scaring the hell out of both her and the setter she’s assisting. “What did I tell you about spreading your bad sleeping habits to my team!?”

She cringes at this, her smile weak and nervous as she faces him, sheepishly scratching the back of her head. “Not to...? S-Sorry, Keishin-kun...”

Sighing in disappointment, he shakes his head and orders them to clean up. “The bus is leaving in fifteen minutes, so make it quick. Shit, you guys never went home so you never managed to pack any bags for the trip, did you? Kageyama, we can afford to make a stop at your house if we need to, but [Name]-san-...”

“I have my bags. I expected to practice here all night,” Kageyama announces, pointing to the fully packed bags in the corner of the gym. “You’re the one who asked me to perfect this toss by the tournament, so I want to practice it as much as I can.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, Ukai sighs. “Fine, I’ll let it slide this once, but no more all nighters! There will be time to practice individual skills at the camp, too, but I expect you to get at least seven hours of sleep every night, you hear!? And [Name]-san, there’s no way for us to get your stuff on the way. Your place isn't en route.”

She shrugs as she tosses a ball on the floor back into the cart. “No problem. I’ll just make a few calls and have some people pack everything up for me and drive it over to Shinzen along with my car. Oh, and I’ll also have to have Romeo come down here to take my Tesla back to the garage…”

Kageyama and Ukai deadpan at her; although [Name] is loaded financially, she normally does really well to hide it. Right now, however, it’s painfully obvious. “All right then… Hurry and get this cleaned up so we can get going.”

Outside, [Name] grins when she sees Hinata, running over to him jubilantly. “Hina-chan!”

He greets her with wide eyes. “Oh, hey, [Name]-san!”

“Sorry that I’m still wearing your clothes,” she apologizes quickly. “I promise I’ll give them back to you as soon as I get my hands on my own again! Oh, and after I wash them all, of course!”

“I-It’s no problem!” the ginger blushes red as a few of his upperclassmen tease him for it.

Meanwhile, Suga looks down at [Name] with a frown. “It’s really early, [Name]-san. Aren’t you a bit cold in that?”

She curses the vice-captain for being so observant, noticing her teeth chatter a bit. She smiles and waves it off. “Nah, I’m fine, really!”

Tanaka and Nishinoya race to claw off their jackets, prepared to offer them to her, only to be beaten to the punch by Suga, patting her head as he drapes his black uniform jacket over her. “Here you go! Don’t want our darling [Name]-san catching a cold!”

[Name] doesn’t even have the chance to retaliate seeing as Kageyama scoffs while brushing past her to go to the back of the bus to load in his bags. “Tch. Dumbass.” 

With nothing to retort, [Name] huffs at him, but she wraps the large black jacket around her regardless. Suga also stares at Kageyama with a frown. “Kageyama and Hinata haven’t talked to one another at all the past two days. I wonder if they’re all right after that fight?”

The girl beside him chuckles softly. “Don’t worry, Suga-senpai. They’re gonna be just fine. Trust me.”

The silver haired third year stares down at her fondly, face flushing a bit as Nishinoya and Tanaka also observe the girl from behind their upperclassman. Suga smiles at [Name], who tilts her head in confusion at the three. “What is it? Is there something on my face?”

“No, that’s not it,” Suga chuckles, patting her head cutely. “It’s just that my jacket is so big on you! You look very cute in it, is all.”

Nishinoya and Tanaka tear up at her adorable giggle, Suga continuing to dote on her while doing so. They clench their fists, desperately wishing it were one of their jackets that draped down to her middle thigh for being too big in size. They wanted it to be their sleeves that bunched up at her wrists, completely concealing her dainty yet experienced hands. They were incredibly jealous of their upperclassman.

On the bus ride over, [Name] sits in the back bench seat between Tanaka and Nishonoya on her right, and Suga and Daichi on her left. Only about an hour into the ride, she dozes off, her head lolling to the side until it rests against Suga’s shoulder. The vice-captain’s eyes widen as he looks down at her resting face, lips slightly parted and hair falling loosely from where it’s tucked behind her ear. She looks so peaceful.

“[N-Name]-san…” he breathes out softly, somewhat surprised.

Hearing this, Nishinoya peers over from [Name]’s right side, jaw dropping at the sight before him. “Suga! No fair, I sat beside her hoping she’d fall asleep on my shoulder!”

“Shh! Nishinoya,” Suga scolds softly. “You might wake her…”

Grumbling, the libero leans back in his seat, arms folded as he scoots just a bit closer to her, hoping maybe he’d get lucky and she'll switch sides in her sleep. Unfortunately, she doesn’t budge for the entire trip, cheek against Suga’s shoulder and wrapped comfily in said setter’s volleyball jacket as she snoozes peacefully through the drive. And the entire time, Suga sits smugly under the fire of many glares from the rest of the passengers on the bus, knowing the position he's in to the fullest extent. And he greedily enjoys it, leaning his head into her hair and appreciating her scent for the rest of the bus ride to Tokyo.


	21. Moonrise

[Name] smells like a tranquil walk through gentle snowfall, Suga decides. One that takes place the same week as Christmas, but not on Christmas Day. Nor the night before. She smells like the sound of ice crunching beneath heavy boots and the whistling of the chilling breeze that stings your eyes and paints noses rosy.

She especially smells like the twinkling lights of Christmas trees; those yellow ones that wink at you through the frost on window panes as you walk by countless houses at night. She smells like the feeling of holding hands with mittens on. Like vanilla and pine wafting through chimney swifts.

[Name]'s scent reminds Suga of exchanging gifts with your friends early because you're much too impatient to hold off another day. Like that feeling that if you wait any longer, you're just going to have to tell them what it is you got. That feeling of wanting so badly to spoil the surprise so that you can see how happy they are with what you've gotten them, because you already know they'll love it before even opening it. 

Her breathing pattern and her hair texture against Suga's cheek inspires him to do something unimportant. Something fun. Something he'll struggle to remember, despite desperately wanting to. Something to feel nostalgic about. 

Like baking cookies in the kitchen with one of your favorite people in the world. Suga imagines what it would be like to bake cookies with [Name]. He'd probably say something in a teasing manner and end up having flour poured over his head. To which he'd laugh and smear butter on [Name]'s cheeks. They'd wear ridiculous frilly pink aprons and drink lukewarm hot cocoa. Ariana Grande's Christmas albums would be playing on repeat in the background. [Name] would force Suga to clean up the mess they'd made as she finishes portioning the dough onto cooking sheets.

Does any of that even make sense? Suga breathes in once more, the tip of his nose dusting her scalp. However, this only confirms his descriptions further. 

[Name] smells like a tranquil walk through gentle snowfall. One in December with whistling wind and rosy noses and twinkling lights that wink at you like stars in the night sky. One where you hold hands with your partner despite the fact you're both wearing gloves. She smells like gifts that you know the receiver will love before ever receiving. She smells like hot chocolate you forget to drink while baking cookies. She smells like shaking flour out of your hair and ridiculous frilly pink aprons. 

She smells like a tranquil walk through gentle snowfall in December.

That's how Suga would describe [Name]'s scent.

She smells... soft. 

Once they reach their destination around 8:30 in the morning, Suga gingerly lifts his cheek from on top of [Name]'s, feeling somewhat groggy. He rubs some grit out of his eyes; he can feel on his right cheek that some of [Name]'s hair had imprinted into his flesh. She continues to snooze lightly, leaning against his shoulder as Nishinoya stands up from her other side, still somewhat disappointed that he wasn't the one she ended up falling asleep on. With a smile, Suga gently shakes he awake.

The setter smiles as her eyes flutter open. “Good morning, sleeping beauty. Sleep well?”

Licking her chapped lips, she yawns and rubs her eyes cutely, processing her surroundings. Tanaka and Nishinoya both blush at the small squeak she makes as she stretches her arms above her head, cheek red from being pressed against Suga's sleeve for a couple hours. “Did I fall asleep? My bad.”

“Nah, you probably needed it,” Suga chuckles, standing and patting her head. “Anyway, we’re here.”

“Oh, right.”

[Name] and Hinata immediately hop out of the bus to greet Kenma, the former giving him an unexpected hug, which the Nekoma setter isn’t prepared to receive. Kuroo greets Daichi and the rest of the team as Lev comes running down the steps that lead to the school, waving frantically to one person in particular as Kenma questions [Name]’s new black eye.

“Hinata!” he calls with a youthful grin. “Have you grown any taller!?”

“Lev, shut up,” Kenma groans monotonically. “You sound like an imbecile.”

Hinata deadpans. “It’s rude for that to be the first thing you say when you greet me. Like anyone can grow any in just two days!”

Lev shrugs. “I’ve grown two millimeters.”

Hinata gasps, looking at [Name] as she scans him, her eyes gold. “He did.”

Once they get settled, Yachi thankfully lends [Name] a spare change of clothes, which she thanks her over and over for. Yachi repeatedly reminds her it's no problem for her. [Name] quickly changes into the pink t-shirt and white shorts, which fit a bit tighter around her muscular legs than they most likely would fit the blonde manager in training, much to Yachi's embarrassment. [Name] gratefully wears them regardless.

The first set of the day is against Fukurodani, and during the first volley, Nishinoya receives the serve and sends it accurately to Kageyama. As Hinata runs first tempo to the net, Kageyama’s eyes narrow in deep concentration, tossing the ball up behind him and swiveling around to see where it goes.

Everyone’s eyes widen as the backspin allows it to stop midair, nearly two meters short of Hinata’s position. The setter blushes in embarrassment as Fukurodani deadpans and Tanaka begins laughing at him, beating himself up over botching the toss he hasn’t yet come to perfect. Hinata’s eyes twinkle, however, finally getting to see what Kageyama has been working on by himself first hand. [Name] smiles at this from the bench. 

The next volley, Kageyama tries again, cursing under his breath when the toss goes too far this time, zipping past Hinata’s swing. The ginger recovers, however, whipping his left arm to tip the ball over the net instead as it passes by, earning the point for Karasuno. [Name] grins as everyone stares at Hinata, shocked by the save. Seems his practice with former coach Ukai has really been paying off. Hinata’s and Kageyama’s eyes meet for the brief moment, shocked and impressed by the other’s improvement over such a short period of time. At this interaction, [Name] grins wildly, excitement flaring up in her [E/C] eyes. 

And the first years aren’t the only ones on the team to have improved, either. The others continue to use these practice matches to their advantage, too, testing their new options. Asahi works on his jump serves, even if the majority of them miss the net or go out of bounds. As Suga gets switched into matches, they try out new synchronized attacks, which aren’t too in sync at all, just yet. And after a bit of a rushed receive in the back, Nishinoya calls for the toss, jumping from the back and reaching for it midair, only to totally miss it and land back on the ground in the front, scowling to himself for jumping too far.

Meanwhile, Bokuto, one of the top five aces in Japan and the third year captain of Fukurodani, puts his hands on his hips, amused. “Hey, what’s up with you guys, today? Are you all thinking straight?”

Coach Nekomota and his assistant coach watch Karasuno’s match in full, the score standing 24-12 in Fukurodani’s favor when the latter asks, “What’s going on with Karasuno? Are they in some kind of rut?”

Nekomota laughs boisterously, glancing at [Name] on the bench momentarily. “No, I’d say quite the opposite. Seeing as they’re crows, they’re omnivorous. Whether it be deep in the mountains, or in the middle of a bustling city, they’ll eat anything that’s edible and take advantage of those who’re stronger than them in order to survive. It looks to be that Karasuno is in the process of evolving at an incredible speed.”

The Nekoma coach’s eyes narrow at one player in particular, however, who’s block fails to stop Bokuto’s set winning spike, ending the practice match in Karasuno’s loss. Unbothered, Tsukishima readjusts his glasses and ambles off the court. “With perhaps a single exception…”

Seeing as at the high school the camp is held at, Shinzen, has a very steep and grassy hill outside their gym, the penalty for losing a set has changed. Instead of flying laps around the gym, the team must do a sprint up the hill and back. Once they reach the bottom again, [Name] and Yachi are patiently waiting to hand out desperately needed water bottles, which the team exhaustingly chugs. 

And by the end of the day, when the stars twinkle in the night sky, the players of Karasuno collapse at the bottom of the hill once more, finishing their final penalty. Amazingly, they lost every single set that they played on the first day of the camp. After a bit of rest, individual practice in the smaller gyms begin. Daichi, Suga, Tanaka and Ennoshita borrow Ukai’s iPad to watch film of synchronized attacks performed by national teams. Asahi heads off to practice his serves.

Yamaguchi is eager to practice his serves, too, turning to smile at Tsukishima. “Hey, Tsukki! I’m gonna go hit some serves. Would you-...”

“I’m going to go take a bath and go to bed,” the tall blond interrupts sternly. 

Yamaguchi, a bit deflated, nods. “O-Oh, I see. Um…”

“What is it?” Tsukishima looks down at him.

“Well, I was just wondering…” Yamaguchi scratches his cheek meekly. “Aren’t you going to practice anything on your own?”

“We practice more than enough already,” he answers without hesitation. “It’s not like it’s any better to vigorously keep practicing, you know. It’s barbaric.”

With that, he walks off, leaving Yamaguchi to sigh. “Sure…”

As Tsukishima heads towards the showers, walking past the smaller gyms, Kuroo calls out to him smugly. “Oi, you! Karasuno with the glasses! Think you can jump a few blocks for us?”

Tsukishima faces him, standing beside Bokuto, who’s stretching out his arm. He blinks. “Actually, I’m done for tonight. If you’ll excuse me-...”

“It’s meaningless to practice spiking without blockers,” Bokuto whines. “C’mon, we’re begging you!”

“And why does it have to be me?” Tsukishima asks sternly, brows furrowed behind his glasses. “Why not someone from either of your schools?”

Just then, Fukurodani’s second year setter, Akaashi, approaches the ace from behind, his expression stoic as he states dryly, “Bokuto-san’s spike practices are typically endless, so the majority of our team hurry to leave after practice in order to escape getting trapped.”

And with an evil smirk, Kuroo jabs a thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to Lev, sprawled in a pool of his own sweat on the floor. “And I’m busy training this lug.”

“B-But I want to jump the blocks! I’ll do it!” Lev begs.

“Shut up!If you want to continue being a regular on Nekoma’s team, you need to actually be able to receive the ball! And you can’t!” Kuroo barks before sighing and returning to his usual smirk towards Tsukishima. “I know this idiot may not look it, but Bokuto is actually one of the top five spikers in the nation. So I think he’d be good practice for you as a middle blocker.”

Akaashi places a hand on his hip when he sees Bokuto smirk triumphantly. “He probably just misses being pushed out of the top three.”

Kuroo pats the ace’s shoulder in a teasing manner. “Don’t mind.”

Bokuto shakes his hand away, growling at him. “Don’t raise me up like that only to let me be knocked down by my own setter!”

Ignoring this, the Nekoma captain grins evilly towards Tsukishima. “Besides, if you’re a middle blocker, shouldn’t you be working on blocking a bit more instead of turning in so early for the night?”

Correctly reading Kuroo’s tone as a challenge, Tsukishima narrows his eyes at him in frustration, his competitive nature getting the best of him as he silently walks past them and into the gym to join them. Impressed, Bokuto gives Kuroo a thumbs up, who smirks triumphantly for successfully convincing the slacker to practice with them. A good amount of spikes into the practice, while Tsukishima is capable of reading where Bokuto will hit it every time, he’s never once successful in blocking it with technique. The ace celebrates his seventeenth spike to go through of the night.

Akaashi deadpans at him. “You’ve beat all but one singular blocker.”

Bokuto’s mood instantly changes as he glares at him. “Shut up!”

“Well, how about two, then?” Kuroo steps up beside Tsukishima cockily, seeing as Lev is no longer responsive, passed out on the floor behind him.

“Is he dead…?” Tsukishima asks softly.

Bokuto ignores the question, grinning. “Bring it on!”

As the ace tosses a ball to the setter to give him a throw, Kuroo prepares the block beside Tsukishima with a smirk, giving him a bit of advice with a low tone and a taunting smirk. “Oi, specs, keep that monster straight of his in check.”

Although he doesn’t respond, Tsukishima does as he’s told, blocking off any chance of a straight. Therefore, Bokuto grins and looks at the open positioning for a cross, going for that instead. With a sly smile, Kuroo repositions his block at the last second, right as Bokuto hits it, completely shutting the spike out. The first time he’s been shut down since they started. 

“Yay!” Kuroo lazily cheers.

“Damn it!” Bokuto cries stubbornly before folding his arms with a sigh. “Hey, specs. You have a good read on things, you know, but at the end of the day, your blocks are pretty weak. I get worried that I might break your arm in two or something if I hit them.”

Glaring at Bokuto, Tsukishima quickly adopts a mocking grin at him. “I’m still a growing boy, you know! I have a long ways to go in both muscle mass and height.”

Bokuto glares at this, seeing as the blond middle blocker is already a good deal taller than him. Kuroo smirks at the taunting nature Tsukishima displays. “You know, if you take things too easy, Chibi-chan will take all the glory away from you. You guys play the same position, don’t you?”

Referring to Hinata with the nickname, both Kuroo and Bokuto are surprised by Tsukishima’s smile as he rubs his neck and shrugs. “I don’t think there’s much I can really do about that. There’s an obvious difference in potential between Hinata and myself.”

Before Kuroo can respond, a few other Nekoma members walk into the gym. Inuoka gaps excitedly. “Ooh!? Are you practicing spikes!? Can I block!? Can I!?”

Yaku, the Nekoma libero, arches a brow at Lev, face planted on the floors. “Oi! Lev! Stop rolling around like a child and get up and work on receiving!”

The short player's order seems to bring Lev back from the dead, gasping in fear. “Gah! Yaku-san!?”

Yaku glares at him deadly. “What do you mean ‘gah’!?”

Tsukishima’s relieved by the surplus of players, nodding at Kuroo. “Ah, well, it looks like I’ll only be in the way, now. So, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Oi!” the Nekoma captain calls after the blocker, but to no avail.

“I think you struck a nerve in him, Kuroo-san,” Akaashi states from the other side of the net.

“You pissed him off!” Bokuto agrees in a sing-song voice, amused. “That was a huge failure for a master of provocation like you, Kuroo-kun.”

Sighing exasperatedly, Kuroo’s shoulders slouch. “Well, I wouldn’t have thought that.”

“What do you mean?” Bokuto wonders.

“Karasuno’s Chibi-chan is definitely strange, but a big threat, nonetheless; however, in terms of technique and experience, he’s like a baby bird. Plus, he’s really short,” Kuroo explains dryly. “Specs is tall and has the intelligence, and yet, he views Chibi-chan as not only an equal, but as someone he is no match against.”

Meanwhile, in a separate practice gym, [Name] works with Hinata and Kageyama on the new quick attack, seeing as how the two couldn’t match up well together at all during a single match today. Tsukishima stops by their gym in order to retrieve his forgotten knee pads, watching them as they desperately try to improve. In the same gym, Nishinoya is practicing his setting skills against a wall while Daichi, Suga, Tanaka, and Narita practice their synchronized attacks, Kiyoko tossing balls up for Suga to set. Yamaguchi and Asahi both work on their serves on the very far side of the court.

Tsukishima glances at [Name] as she tells Hinata she’s ready. The middle blocker nods, spiking her a ball from the cart for her to receive, bumping it accurately to where Kageyama stands in the setting position. Before the ball reaches the setter’s hands, Hinata pushes off his plant foot and races towards the net, jumping up to spike the ball. Kageyama sets it towards him, but the toss is too long, zipping past Hinata who swipes and misses. 

[Name] claps with a reassuring smile. “Don’t mind! We’ll get the next one!”

“Right!” Kageyama and Hinata both get back into position.

Tsukishima exhales through his nose, turning and leaving the gym without a second thought. “Why do you all practice so hard? This is just a club. And if you put this much into it now, it’s only going to end up causing you so much avoidable pain later…”

After another two hours of practicing, [Name], Kageyama, and Hinata are told to go to bed. They begrudgingly listen, cleaning up and locking the gym on their way out. The three walk towards the lodges together, chatting in a friendly manner. “Hina-chan, your birthday was in June, wasn’t it?”

“Mm hmm! The twenty-first!” he confirms with a nod.

“That makes you the oldest of the three of us, then!” [Name] giggles softly, glancing at Kageyama. “How rude of you to be so disrespectful to someone older than you, Tobio.”

“Yeah?” he growls, ruffling her hair playfully. “How old are you then, huh? I bet I’m allowed to pick on you!”

[Name] giggles more, trying to pry his hand off her head. “Actually, I’m older than you, too, Tobio.”

Before he can even ask when her birthday is, the girl gasps and skips over to a vending machine near the bathrooms. She grins, pulling out some cash from her bag. Hinata walks over to her. “Are you getting a drink, [Name]-san?”

“Nah, I want some chips,” she grins, looking over at him. “Would you like anything?”

“Really?” Hinata beams, looking over his options. “Um… Can I get some strawberry pocky, please?”

Only if you give me one,” [Name] winks before making her purchases, crouching down to pick them up from the dispenser. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, [Name]-san!” he grins, taking the snack from her.

“Mm hmm! Tobio, catch!”

“Huh?” the setter, who had been waiting for the two by the doorway, turns to look at her with wide eyes. He barely catches the carton of yoghurt-milk she tosses him. “W-What’s this?”

“Milk,” [Name] answers him, amused.

“I know that, dumbass!” he flushes angrily. “I didn’t ask for this!”

The girl simply shrugs. “And I got it for you anyway. Now, Hina-chan, I demand one of your pocky sticks!”

As [Name] turns to face Hinata once more, poking him playfully as he begins to open his own snack from the vending machine, Kageyama watches with a rather calm gaze. First trained on her before shifting down to the milk carton in his hand. He never told [Name] that yoghurt-milk was his favorite. Of course he’s aware of how observant of a person she is, but... His stormy eyes linger on the drink for a minute before flickering back up to [Name], tickling Hinata with half a pocky stick in her mouth; the ginger had been blushing, seeing as she broke the piece off from a stick that was already in his mouth with her teeth, but his red face comes off as laughter from being tickled. With a soft sigh, Kageyama can’t hold back his small smile as he watches the two from afar.

“Eh? What’s going on in here?” a playful voice coos from over his shoulder.

“Lev?” [Name] halts her tickling to gaze at the taller Nekoma player beside Kageyama. 

“Hey-hey!” the half-russian waves cutely, stalking past the setter towards his two friends. [Name], Hinata, and Lev have been rather close over the training camp, much to Kenma’s despair. It seems their playful natures attracted each other quite quickly. “Isn’t it past curfew? What’re you three hanging out here for?”

“If it’s past curfew, shouldn’t you be in bed, too?” Kageyama scoffs, stabbing his milk carton with the provided straw.

“Eh, you got me there!” Lev quickly admits defeat. “I was just coming to go to the bathroom. What’re you guys doing?”

“Getting snacks!” Hinata proudly displays his pocky.

“Want something?” [Name] asks politely.

“Can I?” Lev grins, gazing into the vending machine to look over his options. “Can I get some melon hi-chews, [Name]-chan?”

With a smile, [Name] punches in the number and waits for the candy to fall to the bottom. Once it does, she crouches down and reaches into the dispenser, only to screech loudly and jump back before she can grab the candy. Before anyone can question her actions, she clings onto the person nearest to her, which happens to be Lev, who had been patiently awaiting his candy. 

“What is it, [Name]-san? Why’d you scream?” Hinata asks with a quiver, Kageyama jogging over to see what all the fuss is about.

Seeing as her face is buried in Lev’s shirt, she carefully looks up at the two. “T-There’s a cockroach i-in the vending machine…”

At the sight of her frightful expression and her quivering tone, Hinata and Kageyama both burst into a deep flush. Neither of them have seen [Name] anything like this. She’s always so cool and confident, after all. To see her eyes watering after being startled by an insect; she looks incredibly cute. They become extremely jealous of Lev, seeing as she’s clinging to his shirt desperately and hiding her face in his chest. 

Said boy looks down at her with wide eyes, also flushing a bit as she clings to him. He rests his hands on his shoulders. “D-Don’t worry, [Name]-chan! I’m not scared of bugs, so I’ll keep you safe!”

[Name] giggles. “Thanks, Lev.”

Kageyama scoffs at this, rolling his eyes and looking away. “[Name], you dumbass. I can’t believe you’re scared of a stupid bug. It’s kind of pathetic.”

At these words, the girl blushes deeper in embarrassment. “S-Stop making fun of me, T-Tobio! I'm not scared! I-I just don’t like c-certain bugs, o-okay!?”

To hear her stutter his name like that makes his heart skip a beat, and he quickly looks away, folding his arms. Hinata wanted to tell the setter off, too, but couldn’t bring himself to. The way Kageyama is teasing [Name] is making her act even more flustered; he selfishly didn’t want it to end. Kageyama sighs. “Fine. Seeing as you’re whining is annoying, I’ll get it for you.”

[Name] watches from Lev’s arms as Kageyama moves to grab the candy from the vending machine. As he crouches down to lift the flap to the department, he stumbles back when the roach comes flying out, unaware of the chaos and havoc it’s about to reap.

And the unusually timid girl isn’t the only one to begin screaming for her life. Kageyama also yells in surprise as the bug flies past him, Hinata screeching and running away as fast as he can. Lev also yelps as [Name] scrambles up him like a tree, arms wrapped around his neck and legs around his torso. She buries her face into his neck as she screams, nearly bursting his ear drums. However, he’s screaming too, hugging her tightly to him as he runs around the room, trying to stay as far away from the roach as he can. Grabbing the stupid melon candies, Kageyama swings his bag around in the air to keep the cockroach away as the four of them run away from the vending machine, the girl being carried until they’re far enough away to be safe.

Needless to say, Daichi and Yaku were not very pleased with the ruckus those four had caused that night. 

The next morning, [Name]’s clothes, as well as her normal vehicle, are delivered to her by two tall men dressed in suits and sunglasses, ear pieces coiled around their ears. [Name] beams and skips over to them happily, thanking them as they hand her the bags. She speaks to them both in English rather than Japanese. Meanwhile, everyone else hides from the big men in fear as [Name] cutely pats each of them on the head, either having to lean down to her height in order for her to do so. And she immediately gets changed, thanking everyone who provided her with clothes up until now.

Dressed in a pair of black running shorts and a white tank top, hair pulled out of her face, [Name] helps the managers as they serve breakfast to the five teams on the hot summer day. Her black eye is still very prominent, but also fading at a decently quick rate.

They all jump right back into the practice matches shortly after the meal, and Karasuno’s quick to lose their first match up against Nekoma, gathering at the base of the hill for penalty. On Daichi’s say so, they all sprint up the steep slope. And this continues for about four sets, Karasuno losing every single one of them.

Their saving grace, however, are the managers of the Shinzen team, who walk in carrying places of watermelon. “Attention, everyone! The parents of Shinzen donated some watermelon in order to keep you all hydrated!”

The teams all gather outside to enjoy the watermelon, sitting on the hillside in groups to eat it. Hinata sits with Lev and Kenma, trying to get the former to teach him how to spit out the seeds of the fruit, just as he had been showing him before. Nishinoya approaches Yachi as he finishes his slice, asking her for another. He takes it from the plate she’s holding, taking a bite as he glances around. 

“Oi, Yachi-san. Where’d [Name]-san run off to?” he asks, swallowing the fruit. “I haven’t seen her since before our first set.”

“Oh, she asked Shimizu-senpai and I if she could take a break to work out,” Yachi holds the plate with one hand in order to point to the top of the hill, where [Name] can just barely be seen running sprints back and forth. “She’s been at it for about an hour, so I don’t know how much longer she plans to keep going.”

Meanwhile, Kuroo approaches the three Karasuno third years as they enjoy their watermelon. “Oi, I wanted to apologize to you.”

Daichi arches a brow. “For what?”

“I may have gotten specs from your team in a foul mood during individual practice, yesterday,” he admits, hands on his hips, taking a seat beside the three and explaining what happened the night before.

“Eh, so you convinced Tsukishima to help out with your personal training?” Daichi whistles, impressed. “What did you say to him?”

Kuroo shrugs. “I told him that if he doesn’t work harder to improve, he’d lose to Chibi-chan on your team.”

“It’s true that Tsukishima has somewhat of an inferiority complex when it comes to Hinata…” Asahi agrees with a sigh.

Licking his lips, Kuroo glances up the hill, where he spotted [Name] to be doing ab workouts earlier, now doing burpees. He stares at the bruise on her eye with a smirk. “Oi. That girl you brought along with you. Who is she, anyway?”

Daichi follows his gaze, also spotting [Name] where she exercises. “You mean [Last Name]-san? She’s a family friend to our Coach from America.”

“America?” Kuroo echoes, arching a brow. “I never would’ve guessed. Her Japanese is impressive. In any case, what’s she doing over here, anyway?”

“We aren’t too sure ourselves. When we asked her that, she just told us that she wanted to get away from all that America was. She said that the people there lacked the mindset that she was looking for, so she came to Japan instead,” Daichi explains softly. “But I guess that’s understandable, seeing as her life in America was probably pretty stressful.”

“How so?” Kuroo asks.

“[Name]-san’s famous,” Suga chirps with a thin smile. “She’s a famous basketball player on the national level and she was recognized highly for being a talented libero, too. [Name] came to Japan in order to escape the spotlight on her, being the daughter of [Last Name] Seraphina.”

Kuroo’s eyes widen at this information, recognizing the name. “[Last Name] Seraphina? She was a setter for the U.S. women's national team in the olympics, right? When they won three consecutive gold medals in a row? And six total championships in the women's world cup?”

Asahi blinks. “I knew her mom was an olympic medalist, but I didn’t know all that…”

Daichi nods. “[Last Name]-san’s very good at everything she does, really, but she’s modest about it. We’ve barely even seen her play any volleyball, and I don’t think any of us have witnessed her play basketball at all, which she’s supposedly one of the best-of-the-best at. From what we have seen, though, we’re incredibly honored to have her here with us.”

”I see…” Kuroo hums before smirking. “And where’d she get that nasty black eye?”

Before they can talk any longer, the coaches announce that break time’s over and that the sets are going to start up again in five minutes. [Name] walks back into the gym during a set between Karasuno and Ubugawa, toweling off the sweat on her brow as she sips on her water. Right as she’s walking around the court, she rolls her eyes at Kageyama, who yells at Tsukishima for slacking off during the last attack, even though Tanaka scored them the point.

As soon as [Name] reaches Ukai, standing beside him, the Coach asks her, “[Name]-san? What do you think of Tsukishima?”

Blinking, she pulls the water away from her chapped lips, staring at the middle blocker being referred to. Her excruciating eyes swirl and change colors, flickering over his form as they shimmer gold. She hums as she blinks once more, eyes [E/C] when they flutter back open. “I’d say the best way to describe Tsukki’s style of volleyball is the type of student who’s complacent with a passing grade, but never works hard enough to earn an A+.”

Ukai nods, finding the metaphor to be a good choice of words. “That’s a good way to put it. I’m not asking him to be more passionate, but if he’s not going to start giving it his all, I’m going to have to change regulars.”

“I see…” [Name] nods, watching as Tsukishima serves casually over the net.

“I need players who can win a match on the court,” Ukai justifies. “And he’s valuable as the tallest member on the team. If Tsukishima can step up and become the key point for blocks, our level of defense would increase considerably.”

Meanwhile, [Name] can’t help but let her attention drift off a bit as a toss is sent to Asahi, ending up a bit short. Hinata licks his lips, hungry for the spike, but eyes widen in realization. He steps back and looks at Asahi, seeing as the ball is his to spike in the first place. And the ace follows through, breaking the block apart and scoring the point. [Name] grins at Hinata’s growth, better than she expected, before returning to the conversation with Ukai.

“Are you trying to tell me that you want me to find a way to get Tsukki a bit more motivated?” she smirks knowingly. 

With a sigh, Ukai folds his arms and smiles at her. “You don’t have to, you know…”

[Name] licks her lips greedily. “You can’t just show me a problem that I can fix and tell me not to, Keishin-kun. However…”

The girl smirks at Tsukishima, who stares at Asahi’s determination to beat Hinata for the spot of ace and clenches his fists before returning to serve again. She bares her teeth into the smirk. “...I don’t think I’m needed for this solution.”

Regardless of Asahi’s team-motivating kill, Karasuno loses the match against Ubugawa and faces punishment once again. [Name] joins them outside as they line up at the base of the hill, sprinting up at Daichi’s signal. She frowns, however, as Tsukishima doubles over half way up, being left behind by the rest of the team. With a grunt and a smirk, she begins jogging up the hill, skipping in a mocking manner as she passes him.

“Oi, come on, Tsukki! Don’t let a girl beat you to the top of the hill~” she taunts in a sing-song voice.

Growling, he chases after her, despite his fatigue and lack of stamina, all the way to the top of the hill before collapsing, cursing her between pants. “F-Fuck…. You… [Last Name]…I hope you… get another… black eye...”

She giggles at him and winks with her good one. “Seeing you push yourself is refreshing, Tsukki. You should do it more often.”

[Name] skips back down the hill with Hinata, cheering with him as they go. “Time for personal practice!”

As the two giddily slide back into the gym, Bokuto approaches Tsukishima at the entrance. “Oi, specs, we’re going to do some spike practice again. Want to jump some blocks for me?”

“Sorry, but I’ll pass,” Tsukishima answers flatly, walking away without a second thought. Hinata overhears this, gasping in shock and running over to his fellow middle blocker as he walks away.

“Hm… Oi, Kuroo-kun!” Bokuto sighs at the loss, instead turning to the Nekoma captain, who groans at the sound of his name being called by Fukurodani’s ace. Bokuto glares at him in response, his voice cracking. “I haven’t even asked you anything yet!”

Meanwhile, Hinata jumps in front of Tsukishima. “You know Fukurodani’s ace!? How can you refuse to practice with him!? That’s such a waste!”

The bespectacled blond doesn’t even acknowledge Hinata, brushing past him and out of the gym. Yamaguchi frowns as he watches his friend exit the gym alone, without even saying goodbye. Biting his lip, the pinch server approaches the ticked off Hinata. “Um, hey, Hinata…? What would you say to Tsukki right now. L-Like what you previously said to Kageyama and [Name]-san not too long ago…”

“Huh?” Hinata arches a brow at the question. “I wouldn’t say anything, because I don’t know whether Tsukishima likes to play volleyball or not. Nothing comes from saying ‘let’s play’ to someone who doesn’t want to play, you know? Aw, damn it! And he’s so tall, too! If I was as tall as him, I’d want to play volleyball even more than I do now! I’d be able to do anything I wanted! I could spike every ball and block any kill!”

“Tsukki…. Doesn’t hate volleyball, I don’t think…” Yamaguchi says softly. “If he did, he would never have come to Karasuno.”

“Well, what about you, Yama-san?” the pinch server looks up with wide eyes at the sound of [Name]’s voice, finding her to be standing beside Hinata with a warm smile on her face. “What would you say to Tsukki?”

“I-I…” he stammers, unable to come up with words.

[Name] smiles knowingly at this, patting Hinata on the shoulder before turning back around into the gym in order to leave Yamaguchi to his thoughts. “Come on, Hina-chan. Tobio and I are waiting on you to practice.”

“R-Right!”

As soon as he’s alone, Yamaguchi blinks and comes to a sudden epiphany, swiveling around on his heel and sprinting off after Tsukishima. “TSUKKI!”

At the sound of his shout for his best friend, Hinata turns to glance back out the door, watching Yamaguchi run off. “What was all that about?”

Smiling, [Name] leans over to pick up a stray volleyball, tossing it up and down in her palm. “I guess he figured out what he would say.”

Hinata blinks. “Oh, so he went after Tsukishima, then?”

She glances at him. “Well, I’d assume so. He seemed pretty worried about him, don’t you think?”

“Yeah. But I think he’ll be okay,” Hinata takes a quick swig of water.

“I think you’re right,” [Name] nods, smiling as she begins bumping the ball over and over again to keep her restless body occupied. “Tsukki never does anything that can be considered lame. He doesn’t fail tests, he’s always on time…”

“Yeah, and he does things that are like ‘whoosh’ and ‘swish’!” Hinata adds giddily.

[Name] giggles at his constantly confusing rhetoric. “Right! And seeing as he doesn’t do anything lame, I think he’ll be okay.”

As Hinata returns his water bottle to the carrier, he raises a brow. “How would you know?”

Smirking, she stops bumping the ball and catches it to look him in the eye. “Because between being either good or bad at volleyball, it’s pretty clear which of the two options would be considered less lame.”

“Oi! How long are you two imbeciles gonna take!?” Kageyama barks from the opposite side of the gym, growing very impatient with both of his practice partners’ slack. “It’s been five whole minutes since personal practice has started and we haven’t even done anything!”

Amused, [Name] skips over, laughing to herself. “Sorry, Tobio~”

Meanwhile, Hinata’s eyes trail after her longingly, processing her previous words about Tsukishima, realizing them to be true. Licking his lips, he grins as he runs after her, announcing how hard he’s going to work in tonight’s personal practice. 

Meanwhile, Tsukishima stops in his tracks when he hears his childhood friend calling out his nickname. He turns around to face Yamaguchi, who doubles over to catch his breath once he’s caught up to the blond. “What is it?”

Yamaguchi pants a bit. “Tsukki… You’ve always done everything in the coolest way possible. I was always jealous.”

Tsukishima blinks, waiting for more of an explanation. “And…?”

Angered, Yamaguchi bites his lip as he raises his voice, brows crossed. “But, lately, you’ve been acting really lame, Tsukki! Hinata might become the Tiny Giant someday; that just means you have to beat him, Tsukki! You should just prove with your skill that you’re a more amazing volleyball player than Hinata is! You have the height, the brains, the instincts… so why do you decide that getting any better is impossible!?”

Winded from his rant, Yamaguchi waits anxiously for Tsukishima’s response. The blond’s eyes are wide. “Even if… Even if I worked really hard and became the best player on the team, what would happen after that? Even if on the off chance we make it to Nationals and win the championship, what would come after that? There is always better, and even better beyond that. It’s endless. Even if you’re able to show good results somewhere, there will always be someone in a different place who’s better than you! It’s impossible to be the best at anything; you can’t become number one, no matter how hard you try! You’re gonna lose somewhere along the way! Everyone knows that, so what’s the driving force behind everyone’s will to practice so damn much!?”

Gritting his teeth, Yamaguchi lashes out and snatches the collar of Tsukishima’s shirt, pulling the tall blocker down to his height. “WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU NEED OTHER THAN YOUR OWN DAMN PRIDE!?”

Tsukishima stares down at the pinch server with wide eyes behind his specs, the light of the moon showering down on them as a cloud sifts by in the sky. As Yamaguchi let’s Tsukishima go, the latter begins chuckling to himself. “To think that a day like this would come… When the hell did you get so cool? You’re really cool, Yamaguchi.”

Yamaguchi gulps at this uncharacteristic behavior. “T-Tsukki, are you all right…?”

“However, I’m not completely convinced by your mindset,” he announces as he turns to face the same gym he was forced to practice in the night prior. “I have a question that needs answered. Later.”

Akaashi is the first to notice the presence of the Karasuno player at the entrance, facing him with his usual blank stare. “Oya?”

At his setter’s short state of surprise, Bokuto is next to notice, smirking. “Oya oya?”

And Kuroo is soon to follow, grinning mischievously. “Oya oya oya?”

Tsukishima enters. “There’s something I’d like to ask you. May I?”

“Sure!” Bokuto and Kuroo both announce unanimously, Akaashi remaining silent.

“Both of your schools are sometimes considered powerhouses, right?” Tsukishima asks, the emphasis on ‘sometimes’ already ticking the two captains off, the second-year setter remaining indifferent. “Even if you were able to make it Nationals, actually winning the championship would be extremely difficult, right?”

“But not impossible!” Bokuto corrects angrily. 

“Now, now,” Akaashi faces the two captains, both trembling with frustration. “Let’s hear him out. He’s speaking hypothetically, after all.”

While this only seems to set the two off more, they obey Akaashi’s wishes and remain silent as Tsukishima continues. “I’m genuinely curious about this: Why are you so desperate to do all of this personal training? To get better? Volleyball is just a club.”

At those five little words, Bokuto is officially pushed over the line, his brows crossing over his hazel owl-like eyes. “‘Just a club’...? That almost sounds like somebody’s name.”

Tsukishima, who was genuinely somewhat frightened by how pissed Bokuto seemed at first, now deadpans. Kuroo gasps. “Oh? Like Mary Club?””

“Hmm… Maybe ‘just some club’ sounds more like that,” Bokuto ponders before laughing to himself. “Damn! So it doesn’t actually sound like a name! My bad! Man, I was so close, wasn’t I!?”

Kuroo shakes his head in disappointment. “Damn idiot.”

Tsukishima deadpans still. “Would it be better if I came up with a retort?”

“Nah,” Akaashi sighs, used to this sort of treatment by now. “There would be no end to it.”

“Say, Four-Eyes!” Bokuto refers to Tsukishima with a grin.

“It’s Tsukishima,” the boy corrects, irked by the nickname. 

“Tsukishima-kun!” Bokuto agrees, expression and tone no different. “Is volleyball fun?”

Thinking about this for a moment, Tsukishima shrugs. “No, not really.”

“Maybe that’s because you suck at it?” Bokuto suggests, unaware of how badly he had just flattened the salty first year’s ego before him. “Well, I’m two whole years older than you and I’ve gone to nationals. That makes me better than you by default. Way better than you!”

“You don’t have to tell me that…” Tsukishima growls through clenched teeth.

Bokuto smiles slyly. “And while I may be a third year who’s gone to Nationals, I only just recently started thinking volleyball was fun. Only ever since my straight became usable in matches. I’ve always been good at landing cross-court shots, but my opponents were learning to block those pretty easily. I got really pissed and frustrated about it, so I started practicing the hell out of straights. And in the next tournaments, I never let the blockers touch the ball once. I shot straight through them all. The first time I got a good straight in was what made me feel like my time had finally come. It’s all about whether or not you get a moment like that. What happens in the future, if you can win the next game or not… None of that matters, as of right now! Crushing the guy in front of you and the exhilaration of playing at 100% of your potential skill is everything. But, in the end, that’s only my story, and it might not fit anyone and everyone. I don’t really understand why you say it’s ‘just a club’, but I won’t tell you you’re wrong. But once that moment arrives for you; that’s the moment you’ll become hooked on volleyball!”

Eyes as wide as saucers, Tsukishima isn’t even given the proper amount of time to process everything he had just heard before being slapped on the back by Bokuto with a grin. “All right! I answered your question, so jump a few blocks for me.”

Kuroo joins in with a smirk, nudging Tsukishima over to the net. “Now, now, hurry up!”

Back in the first training gym, Yamaguchi re-enters in order to get started on his own personal training for the night. Hinata gasps, seeing as he, [Name], and Kageyama are taking a quick water break. “Yamaguchi, where’s Tsukishima?”

Yamaguchi gestures over his shoulder. “It looks like he got caught up with Fukoradani’s and Nekoma’s captains.”

“What!? I’m so jealous!” Hinata exclaims. “Maybe I should head over there, too…”

“Hinata?” the pinch server frowns. “Do you think of Tsukki as your rival?”

“Huh? Of course I do! We play the same position, and he has everything I don’t have!” Hinata squeezes the volleyball he holds tightly before turning. “But I’m not gonna lose to him! I’m gonna go practice more spikes! Captain, I’m coming in!”

Daichi, who’d been practicing the coordinated attacks, blinks, eyes wide. “Oh, sure!”

Giggling with her ever-knowing smile, [Name] approaches Yamaguchi, tucking some hair behind her ear. “You know, their rivalry would represent the moon versus the sun.”

“Huh?”

“Well, in Japanese, ‘Hi’ means ‘Sun’ and ‘Tsuki’ means ‘Moon’,” she explains softly, her smile soft. 

“Oh, yeah, you’re right!” Yamaguchi comes to the realization as well. “That’s a cool way to represent their rivalry. I hope it happens…”

The next morning, Karasuno faces another practice match against Fukurodani. And as usual, the score is drastically one-sided, Fukurodani in the lead 11-6 by the time Ukai calls for a time out. The Coach folds his arms as he gives the regulars a tip while [Name], Kiyoki, and Yachi ensure they get water. “Make sure you at least touch number four’s spikes, even if you can’t stop them completely.”

[Name] gazes over at the spiker Ukai talks about; Bokuto Koutarou. The third year captain and ace. If she recalls correctly, he’s placed fourth in the top high school aces in Japan. Her eyes shift into a hue of gold as she hands Asahi his water, mumbling ‘you’re welcome’ to him in response to his thanks. Her eyes narrow as she inspects the Fukurodani captain; he’s 6’1 and stands at a weight of 173 lbs. Impressively muscular while retaining his height and lank in order to keep consistency with his spikes. His spiky hair is light gray with darker roots, looking almost black at the base of the tresses. [Name] blinks, eyes melting back to [E/C] when Bokuto’s owl-like optics shift over to meet her gaze, the hazel hue gleaming with curiosity.

Seeing as she’s been caught in the act of staring at him, [Name] humbles herself and doesn’t even bother playing it off. Instead, she holds his eye contact and smirks at him cheekily before returning to doting over the Karasuno team, collecting waters and towels. This leaves Bokuto utterly confused, but more so intrigued by who the mysterious girl with silk-like hair and the black eye could be.

As [Name] takes Tsukishima’s water bottle from him after he finishes drinking, the blond faces the coach. “So the aim of the block is not to stop the spike?”

Utterly shocked by the fact that Tsukishima is actually asking a genuine question, the team reels back with wide eyes. Even Ukai has to get over his initial surprise before clearing his throat. “Well, if your able to actually shut the ball out, there’s nothing better. But at least slowing down the ball’s momentum is better than not touching it at all.”

[Name]’s grin is mad and wide as she takes a towel from Daichi, who catches her focus to be on Tsukishima. He doesn’t get to question it, though, for the timeout is over and the team is called back to the cart. However, it’s fairly obvious that what he just said has gotten her riled up; perhaps it should be considered a really good thing. Although, it really is hard to tell what [Name]’s up to in that clever mind of her’s when she’s smiling crazy like that.

As the game continues, [Name] helps Yachi take notes about volleyball from the bench, explaining the difference between a soft block, or a ‘one-touch’, compared to a kill block. As she’s doing this, however, she can’t help but hear Bokuto call for the toss on his side, going for the spike. She switches her attention from Yachi to the match, eyes narrowing in expectation at one player in particular. And as Tsukishima jumps with Daichi for the block, [Name] licks her lower lip and grins at Bokuto’s wide eyes. She can’t blame him; all of a sudden, Tsukishima’s block became so intimidating out of nowhere.

It’s intimidating by the fact he’s trying to improve alone.

Due to this, Bokuto opts to dink the toss at the last second, going for the feint rather than the spike. This works in his favor, luckily, the ball sailing smoothly over the block and hitting the ground just before Nishinoya can reach it. And as Takeda praises Bokuto for the last second decision from the bench, Ukai and [Name] both gawk at Tsukishima knowingly.

On the Fukurodani side, however, Akaashi glances at Bokuto without any expression on his face. “Bokuto-san, you fled from the competition.”

Jumping, Bokuto immediately defends himself. “I didn’t flee! I dodged it! With skill, I dodged it!”

From his practice match on the other side of the gym, Kuroo snickers at Bokuto’s defense, amused by his new fear of Tsukishima’s block. And as the blond blocker turns to get back into position, Bokuto glances over his shoulder at him, grinning in excitement for the new competition before him. A worthy rival to his spikes may come from Tsukishima’s evolution. And as the blocker passes by Hinata, the two glance at each other momentarily, silently challenging the other.

At this, [Name] stretches her arms over her head and yawns, a smug smile dancing across her lips. “So, the Sun versus the Moon, huh?”


	22. Wordsmith

Throughout the day, [Name] continues to notice improvement throughout the entire team. Everyone’s beginning to make less mistakes, and the point gaps during matches are becoming thinner and thinner each time they play. Yet, they still haven’t managed to win a single set. But that’s no matter; they’re here to grow over everything else, and winning isn’t necessary to do that. [Name] can only continue to marvel at everyone’s daily progress.

Though, there are two who continue to struggle.

She sighs, shaking her head and chuckling as Kageyama gives a toss to Hinata that stops much too short, leaving the decoy to miss it completely. They quickly apologize to the team for the miscalculation and return to their positions, not speaking a word to the other. Other than during personal training at night, the two still haven’t talked to one another. Even then, most of the time they just speak to [Name] rather than to each other. Still, she smiles at the two, knowing that it’s best if they enjoy this brief break from one another. 

As a spike goes flying out of bounds, [Name]’s instincts kick in and her hand flies out in front of Yachi’s face, who’d been standing beside her keeping score. The blonde manager gasps in surprise at the sound of a volleyball slapping against [Name]’s palm. She doesn’t even realize she’s holding her breath until the ball falls down to the floor and bounces a couple times loudly before [Name] crouches down to pick it up.

“Sorry!” a couple players call out as [Name] tosses the ball back to the next server.

“No worries!” she chirps back to no one in particular, a soft smile gracing her lips.

While this isn’t seen as a big deal to the majority of the people inside of the gym, the fact that [Name] was able to stop that high paced spike dead in its tracks without even hesitating is monumental to a couple others. After all, this is the first time that many of them are seeing [Name] in any action at all; most of them don’t even know who she is, for that matter.

Two of those people being Bokuto and Akaashi. Neither of the two Fukurodani players even know her name, yet, both staring at her with wide eyes, impressed by her instinct. To them, all she had been this whole trip is a helpful manager; both are completely clueless to her true nature.

Kenma and Kuroo, however, both know who she truly is, and continue to gawk at her in amazement. Hinata’s told Kenma all about how amazing [Name] is, but he’s never seen it for himself in order to believe. As of now, however, he’s inclined to believe everything Hinata’s ever told him about the girl. And Kuroo is also stunned, thinking back to Daichi’s words about [Name]’s skill in volleyball; he grins in excitement as he stares at her.

Coach Nekomota’s eyes narrow at the girl as he, too, scrutinizes her. He knows who she is; he’s aware of the bond between the Ukai family and [Last Name] Seraphina. He still can’t help but wonder why her daughter is in Japan, however. But he won’t question it; it isn’t his place. Nevertheless, he wishes to see the girl in a bit more action. Nekomota has seen Seraphina play, but never got the chance to witness [Name] on the court. 

Everyone’s snapped out of it, however, when Hinata has to cover for the toss he hadn’t been expecting, barely scoring the point. He turns and glares at his setter. “Oi! You held back, didn’t you!?”

“Huh? Held back?” Kageyama tilts his head, stare turning deadly in an instant as he grabs Hinata by his collar. “Me? With volleyball? Say that again.”

“Excuse me!” the voice who calls out to the ref is unexpected, everyone turning to see [Name] smiling innocently, her sweet persona heartwarming to witness. “Can we get a timeout please?”

Although it’s unconventional for anyone to call for a timeout but the coach, it’s allowed seeing as it’s a practice match; also, Ukai agreed with the call in the first place. Kageyama and Hinata both gulp as [Name]’s gaze flickers over to them both. Although her smile is sweet, it’s all a facade for the fiery aura dancing around her tauntingly cold eyes; the fading black bruise painting her right socket doesn’t make her look any less scary, either. Kageyama immediately let’s Hinata go; and in that moment, he realizes something he’s never felt before. He just gave into fear.

The fear of [Last Name] [Name]’s wrath.

Hinata, however, isn’t as intuitive, continuing to glare at the setter. “That wasn’t the falling toss!”

Kageyama’s eyes widen; not only did he realize he has a fear of [Name]’s hatred, today, but he also realizes that Hinata’s right. Kageyama did subconsciously back down just now; he unknowingly worried for Hinata’s mental health, seeing as the decoy hasn’t been able to comfortably hit a spike in a while, now. Therefore, his mind subconsciously tossed a regular quick to Hinata rather than the unperfected stopping toss to ensure the ginger could score a point. Eyes still wide, Kageyama turns to the bench without a word, Tanaka prying Hinata off of the setter.

“Don’t stop trying, Kageyama!” Hinata cries, getting the setter to stop in his tracks. 

And just like that, Kageyama snaps back to reality, realizing who’s standing right in front of him. [Name] smiles cutely as she offers him a water bottle, her shoulders slightly lifted and her eyes closed. Eyeing the water bottle, Kageyama takes it without a word, his head back in the game as he continues to ignore Hinata. 

As they continue the matches throughout the day, [Name] attends her daily workout. For two hours everyday, she takes a break from assisting the managers in order to exercise, claiming she can’t survive so long without keeping her body in check. Normally, she takes her workout outside; today, however, the temperature is a bit higher than usual, the spike of humidity and UV index not sparing the heat any mercy, either. Therefore, after about a half hour long jog outside, [Name] ambles back into the gym glistening with sweat. And seeing as she’s ditched her tank top and is now wearing a pair of athletic shorts and a black sports bra, every slick inch of skin on her body is conceivable by the naked eye.

The majority of the boys in the gym notice this, obviously, and the majority of them try to come off as if they didn’t, sneaking glances only when they think the opportunity is safe. A couple others, however, aren’t afraid to oggle. Noticing this, Nishinoya and Tanaka grow rather heated on the court, especially seeing as they have no way of protecting her from their disgusting stares as they remain stuck in a game.

Chugging a bit of water, [Name] flicks her hair over her shoulder and towels off a bit before heading up into the balcony above, her AirPods in her ears. Now that she’s out of sight, a sudden tension lifts from the gym and they continue playing without any distractions. Karasuno loses yet another match pretty soon after, shuffling back into the gym after performing the hill sprint punishment for the umpteenth time this week. As they drink their waters, the team captain can’t help but notice something a bit unsettling. 

“[Last Name]-san!” he yells her name so loud that it echoes through the entire gym, stopping all play as he looks up above, where [Name] is hanging from the railing of the balcony above by the crooks of her knees and vertically doing sit ups. “Get down this instant, it’s dangerous!”

Startled by Daichi’s sudden yell, [Name] gasps and slips up, losing her grip on the metal railing and falling from twenty feet above everyone else in the gym. She doesn’t scream as gravity pulls her down toward the gym floor. The entirety of Karasuno, for the most part, however, yell out in fear, throwing everything they have as they fruitlessly try to sprint to the opposite side of the gym in time to catch her. All but Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, who walk in late from the punishment, unaware of what’s going on. 

Seeing as no one from Karasuno could possibly make it on time at the distance they’re at, the boys who have come to care for the girl as a part of their family allow fear to grip their hearts. Tsukishima’s eyes widen in shock when he realizes [Name] is sailing through the air, hurtling towards the floor, and he drops his water as Yamaguchi cries out the girl’s name. Nishinoya desperately bolts as fast as he can, him and Hinata the fastest two up front, screaming for the girl’s safety. Even Kageyama’s not that far behind, panic flooding his normally sublime mind as he recklessly ducks under the net of a game that was in session and dives forward nearly ten feet away from the girl, nowhere near enough to make it on time.

And seeing as how it isn’t humanly possible for a single one of the Karasuno players to rescue the girl before she hits the ground, [Name]’s met with someone else’s strong arms, fortunately saving her from a nasty spill. Blinking, she looks up at her savior, recognizing him as Akaashi Keiji, the second year setter for Fukurodani. Blinking once more, her eyes melt from stony [E/C] to molten gold, pulling a rare reaction from the normally emotionless setter. His eyes widen in shock at the sight before he narrows them curiously at her, seeing as they seem to be peering through his entire being and into his soul. Meanwhile, [Name] scans his attributes; just about six feet tall, 156 pounds, black hair, nearly blank eyes that appear to be gray, but upon careful scrutinization, [Name] can see they’re gunmetal blue. Data collected, [Name]’s eyes fade back to her own natural shade of [E/C], though her smile melts the cold feel of her intelligent irises.

“My bad!” she chirps innocently, causing the Karasuno boys who had stopped dead in their tracks after Akaashi had caught her to deadpan.

“It isn’t safe,” Akaashi tells her stoically, his voice soft yet reprimanding as he carefully sets her down, having been holding her bridal style for a full twenty seconds now. “I wouldn’t recommend doing something like that again.”

“Yes, sir!” [Name] salutes playfully, obviously not taking it seriously; however, she does bow in order to display her gratitude. “Thank you for catching me, Akaashi-senpai. That would’ve been a rather nasty tumble.”

Before the setter can even respond - let alone ask the girl how she could possibly know his name - Daichi is pulling her away by her ear, apologizing repeatedly for her behavior while doing so. He then continues to scold and lecture her from the far side of the gym, though their conversation isn’t quiet enough to be considered private.

“What did you think you were doing!?” he yells at her and she has to lean away from the volume and intensity of his tone. “You know how incredibly dangerous that was! You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt!”

She folds her arms stubbornly. “Well, if you hadn’t startled me so suddenly like that, I would never have slipped! I had it under control, Daichi-senpai!”

“I don’t care!” Daichi barks back, his aura terrifying. “You had me terrified, [Name]-san! My heart completely stopped when I saw you up there!”

Eyes wide, [Name] takes a step back, but not out of fear. Daichi cocks a brow, questioning her confusing action. The corner of her lip twitches. “That was the first time you’ve ever called me [Name]…”

Even Daichi forgets about his anger for the moment, realizing he had as well; he was the only one on the team [Name] never questioned for calling her [Last Name]-san rather than her first name. She understood it was a respect-thing for him; as captain, he wasn’t comfortable with calling her [Name].

However, in reality, Daichi always had to be mindful of his words when referring to her; because whenever he looks at her, the first word that comes to mind is ‘[Name]’. For when he thinks of ‘[Last Name]’, he thinks of her mother. The surname just never fit her face the same way that her first does. The way '[Name]' sounds as it rolls of Daichi's tongue feels so right. That's who she is and who she always has been. [Name]. Only now when he let his filter loose in order to scold her did he let her perfect name slip.

Gearing to apologize, Daichi stops himself at the sight of her genuine smile, those magnetic eyes of hers sparkling. “It’s nice to hear you call me that, Daichi-senpai. In any case, now I have to go find a new place to finish my abs set before I can be finished for today. If you’ll excuse me.”

After a rushed bow, [Name] slips away before the captain can lecture her any longer. She approaches the rest of the Karasuno team on their water break, the majority of them doting on her and making sure she’s okay after the fall. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” she assures them with a laugh, holding Nishinoya an arm’s distance away by placing a hand flat on his face. “Noya-senpai, I don’t think I need CPR.”

“Are you sure!?” he grins wildly.

“I’m sure,” she nods in amusement. “No, what I need is someone tall.”

Nishinoya is floored by this comment, his stature not considered to be the conventional norm of ‘tall’. [Name]’s head slowly turns to Tsukishima, the mischievous smile on her face enough to send shivers up the blond’s spine. Therefore, he removes himself from the situation, chased after by Yamaguchi as he walks away. “Not a chance, [Last Name]-san.”

“You don’t even know what I need you for!” she pouts.

“Doesn’t matter!” he calls over his shoulder.

Sighing, [Name] calls after Tsukishima once again, but not for him. ”Then at least let me steal Yama-san for a moment."

The pair both stop in their tracks, the olive-haired brunet wide-eyed as the blond takes another swig from his water bottle. Glancing at his friend, Tsukishima shrugs and keeps walking. Taking this as permission from the taller male, Yamaguchi paces back towards [Name], who is waiting for him. "What is it that you need, [Name]-san?"

She grins at him. “I need your height.”

Unaware of why those four words make him uncomfortable, Yamaguchi bites his lip and mentally curses himself for letting heat crawl to his face. He anxiously picks at his fingernails. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, Daichi-senpai sure as hell isn’t going to let me finish my crunches up in the balcony after that last little stunt I pulled,” she points to the location behind her with a sigh. “I don’t see the big deal. It’s no different than when I do them from the railing of my loft at home….”

Yamaguchi chokes on his next inhalation of oxygen. “You do that from the loft at your apartment!? With no one else around!?”

“Yeah, and I’ve never fallen until now. How embarrassing…” she sighs yet again, not very mindful towards the boy's concern. “In any case, I refuse to let a good workout go to waste because of my near-end, so I need to finish my last set of vertical crunches on your shoulders, seeing as Tsukki refused.”

At this, Yamaguchi gulps down his nerves and glances away coyly. “Why me? Isn't there someone else more fit for the job?”

“But I know you won’t drop me,” she bargains softly. “I know Hina-chan or Noya-senpai would be eager, but neither of them are tall enough to-... I just realized how embarrassing that is…”

Yamaguchi --who had been astounded over her trust towards him from her first couple of words-- arches a brow at her lost train of thought. “What is?”

[Name] places a hand on her forehead, chuckling nervously as her golden eyes scan Nishinoya and Hinata a couple paces away. “I-I’m heavier than both of them….”

The brunet blinks at this information, intrigued more about those eyes of hers that he’s always noticed but never questioned. “How can you even tell?”

“I know you’ve noticed them, Yama-san. I don’t put much effort into concealing them,” [Name] looks him dead in the eyes as her’s fade back from gold to [E/C]. “It’s hard to explain, and I don’t care whether you believe me or not, but my eyes have been trained to allow me to understand the physical attributes of everyone I look at. Your strengths, your weaknesses, your potential-... I can build upon all of that by looking at you.”

“So that’s how you come up with all those strange stats in your notes,” he realizes, nodding in an impressed manner. “C-Can I see?”

Grinning at him, her eyes flash gold once more. “Yamaguchi Tadashi: you are precisely 179.5 centimeters tall and I predict your current running vertical to be approximately 40 inches-.. I mean, 315 centimeters is the measurements you'd go by in Japan. The ligaments connecting your scapula to your ribcage are incredibly flexible; built perfectly for learning a jump float in a short amount of time. Looking at your shoulders, I can approximate the amount of serve training you do in a day. You currently weigh in at 63 kilograms…”

Yamaguchi stares at her with wide eyes as she finishes. “O-Okay, I think I believe you, now…”

“Good,” her head swivels back around to glare at Nishinoya and Hinata again, eyes still gold. “Because Hina-chan weighs 51.9 kg and Noya-senpai is only 51.1 kg… and I’m [weight + a few kg] kilograms right now, it isn’t fair!”

Unsure of what to do in this situation, being before a girl who’s unsatisfied with her weight, Yamaguchi hooks a finger around his shirt collar and struggles to comfort her. His lack of social skills sure isn’t benefiting him in this situation. “I-I’m sure that’s just because you’re athletic and have a lot of muscle weight, [Name]-san…”

“Damn right, it is!” she nods in agreement, not appearing that upset about it in the slightest. “However, I neglected my typical load of exercise during the two weeks I tutored that stupid lot from your team, seeing as the only thing I did was join Tobio for morning jogs. I weighed [weight] kg before that! That was my perfect weight! I need to get back to it or I’ll feel out of equilibrium! And I want to make sure I look good for the beach next week! I packed all of my favorite bikinis!”

“Bikinis? You have more than one swimsuit?”

“Of course I do! How could I own just one?” [Name] shakes her head in disappointment towards Yamaguchi's lacking fashion sense. “I want to show them all off! And in order to pull them off perfectly, I need to look good to do so!”

“But you look fine,” Yamaguchi smiles shyly, not even realizing his mistake.

“Fine…? Just fine? That’s it! Turn around and let me get on your shoulders right now, Yama-san!” [Name] orders, the flames dancing in her eyes sending a chill up his spine. “I’m gonna do triple the reps, now! I’m fired up!”

“Yamaguchi, we’re warming up for our next match!” Ukai calls over. “Hurry it up!”

Before the pinch server can answer, [Name] swivels around and gives the coach a look that screams 'don’t-test-me-right-now'. “I’m stealing him for five minutes, Keishin-kun! Deal with it!”

Recognizing that exact look from his childhood, Ukai doesn’t even try to stand up to the small girl before him, backing down without a fight. He does shoot Yamaguchi a look that instead says 'good-luck-comrade', leaving the boy with a panic-stricken heart. He looks down at [Name], about to question her once again until his gaze lands on her right eye; he wasn't the one that caused the bruise, but Yamaguchi still feels responsibility towards her, somehow. She's the one who suggested he start learning service techniques in the first place, after all. He owes her this much.

Deciding it’s probably best he does as his coach does and comply to the girl, Yamaguchi reluctantly crouches down and allows [Name] to swing her long legs over his shoulders, lightly gripping his olive tresses as he stands back up and holds onto her ankles to help keep her supported.

“You’re the best, Yama-san. I won’t be long,” she promises as she gets to work, doing the same crunches as before on his back. He struggles to ignore the stares, humiliated that he was forced into doing this. Yamaguchi’s quick to learn, however, that they aren’t mocking stares; most of them seem to be that of jealousy. This confuses him. Why would any of them want to be in his place? Standing by the side of the gym as this girl uses him as workout equipment? It makes no sense to him.

Then he realizes they’re all perverts. He realizes that [Name] most likely has to experience perverts like this in her everyday life. No wonder Tanaka and Nishinoya are so protective of her. Realizing that she’s subject to this kind of treatment often, Yamaguchi grips her ankles just a bit tighter, feeling her every time she lifts upwards from his back and curls back down before crunching back up again. Why is he feeling so protective of her? Yamaguchi Tadashi is an only child, but he wonders if this is what it's like to be protective of a sibling….

Perhaps that’s it; [Name]’s like a sister to him.

That would explain a lot about the way he feels about her; why he enjoys to be around her and how he cares about her so much. Growing bored, Yamaguchi inspects the shoes she wears; a pair of nike air max 270’s. The color palette of the shoes is limited, consisting of clean white, gray, and dark blue. He enjoys the minimalism of the design.

“...One hundred fifty,” [Name] counts softly, sighing in relief as she then limply hangs from Yamaguchi's shoulders upside down. “All right, Yama-san. You can let me go, now.”

“Y-You won’t fall?” he asks over his shoulder in a meek manner.

“Nah, I’m good,” she ensures as he carefully lets go of her ankles, watching as she stands on her hands momentarily before gracefully walking herself back over to a standing position, where she grins. “Right! Thank you, Yama-san! I feel so much better now that my abs are completely torturing me. Go back to the match, I’ll start getting water and towels prepared.”

Without another word, the girl jogs off, leaving Yamaguchi even more confused than ever. And as soon as he gets back to the team to join the practice match, Nishinoya and Tanaka are all over him, asking him every question imaginable about how it was like to be in the position he was in moments ago. Even Hinata and Suga are rather curious themselves. Kageyama adopts his stoic mask despite glancing at them, recommending they focus on the practice match ahead instead of [Name]’s business. Yamaguchi hops onto that train while it's off and running. Although this irks the rest of the boys, they quit pestering him and heed his advice.

And Yamaguchi isn’t the only one to steal glances at [Name] as she returns to the gym during their set, once more wearing her tank top from earlier and dragging an entire five gallon water jug behind her as she returns to the bench.

As personal training comes along that night, [Name] and Hinata watch as Kageyama sets up empty water bottles alongside the net they usually practice at, the latter tilting his head in confusion. “What’re you doing, Kageyama?”

“Starting tonight, I’m not gonna practice with you anymore,” the ravenette answers simply as he continues to meticulously place each bottle, just as [Name] had done the first time they had practiced the quick back at Karasuno. “And of course, I won’t be trying to use the new quick in matches, either.”

“...What!?” Hinata exclaims, fists clenched as [Name] shifts over a bit closer to him just in case.

Kageyama side eyes him. “You’re the one who told me not to stop trying, dumbass. As it stands now, it’s useless for you and I to keep practicing together.”

Immediately understanding, Hinata nods, and [Name]’s shoulders relieve, seeing as she didn’t have to try and break anything up, this time. “Gotcha! Kenma, give me some tosses!”

“Actually, Hina-chan,” [Name] grabs the boy’s hand with a smile. “I have somewhere else in mind for you. You don’t mind if I leave you to practice with someone other than me, Tobio?”

The ravenette cocks a brow at her, but only shrugs. “As long as someone can set up my tosses, I don’t care who it is.”

“Right. Hitoka-chan!” the blonde jumps from where she’s helping clean, approaching [Name] as the girl waves her over. “You wouldn’t mind helping Tobio practice in my place for tonight, would you? All you have to do is throw him some volleyballs. He’ll show you how.”

“O-Oh, um, s-sure! I’d be happy to!” she nods nervously, eyeing Kageyama in fear.

“Sweet. Good luck tonight, Tobio!” [Name] chirps before squeezing Hinata’s hand and dragging him out of the gym. “This way, Hina-chan!”

“W-Where are we going?” the boy asks as he stumbles to keep up with the girl dragging him by the hand; he blushes at the contact with her. Her palms are surprisingly soft.

“Gymnasium three!” she calls over her shoulder. “I think the people in here will be the best to help you improve your battle while mid-air!” 

When they arrive, [Name] stops at the doorstep, leaning against the frame as Hinata doubles over beside her to catch his breath. Noticing the new presences in the room, Bokuto glances over his shoulder, arching a brow. “Oi, Tsukki, did you bring your friends with you today?”

Confused by the question, Tsukishima also turns to look at who's entered, deadpanning at the two he sees. “What? You two aren’t practicing with the shitty king tonight?”

Stepping forward with the sweetest of smiles, [Name] brushes past Bokuto to stand before Tsukishima. “Tobio and Hinata are practicing separately again in order to improve their individual talents. And he doesn’t need me, so I decided to help Hina-chan instead.”

“Yeah, Kenma didn’t want to toss to me. He bailed before I could even ask!” Hinata whines.

Kuroo laughs. “Wow! Kenma was around long enough for you to ask? I’m shocked.”

[Name] snickers as Hinata grins. “Please let me practice with you!”

To his surprise, he isn’t the only one asking, Lev approaching the door behind him. Kuroo groans. “Lev, I thought you were supposed to be practicing receives with Yaku tonight.”

Cringing, Lev quickly lies through his teeth. “Oh, well, I did really good today, so he let me off early!”

Just as he says this, Yaku whips around the corner, peering into the gym. “Oi! Have any of you seen Lev!?”

And much to the half-russian’s dismay, every single person in the gym rats him out, pointing to him as he hides flat against the wall. He groans in fear as the short Nekoma libero drags him back away, scolding him for trying to bail on practice early. Sighing in amusement, Kuroo smirks. “Well, seeing as we have six people here, I suggest some three-on-three.”

Hinata gasps, eyes wide as he peers at [Name] beside him. “Does that mean-...”

Kuroo’s smirk grows wider. “That is, if you’re up for it, of course, [Last Name]-san.”

Smiling, she grabs a hair tie from off her wrist and begins to rake her fingers through her locks in order to pull it back and out of her face. “Please, call me [Name].”

And just like that, Kuroo quickly splits the teams. Him, Tsukishima, and [Name] on one team with Akaashi, Hinata, and Bokuto on the other. [Name] quickly approves; Tsukishima is on the same team as Kuroo, a fantastic middle blocker, Hinata is playing with Bokuto, a nationally recognized ace, and the blond and ginger are pitted against each other. She couldn’t have asked for more from Nekoma’s captain.

And as the match begins, Kuroo is already barking at Tsukishima; “Oi! Read block! Jump after the toss!”

“Right, sorry,” Tsukishima apologizes after the ball goes hurtling past his block and towards the floor.

Kuroo curses, knowing it was impossible to reach it in time. That is, until [Name] dives forward, reaching her arm out as far as she can extend it and barely slipping her palm under, sending the ball back into the air before she rolls over a couple times and hops back up.

Unfortunately, the ball goes sailing back over the net, which Hinata carefully receives. Akaashi sets the ball up back to Hinata, who goes for the spike. However, Kuroo and Tsukishima are already there to stop it, [Name] standing close behind in case it sneaks past their palms. Hinata curses as the ball ricochets back onto his side of the court, no one there to collect it in time.

“Damn it!” Hinata growls at Tsukishima’s snarky smirk. “Again!

[Name] snickers as she glances at the clock on the wall. “I love the enthusiasm, Hina-chan, but if we don’t wrap this up soon, the cafeteria will close for the night, and we’ll all have to go to bed on empty stomachs.”

At these words, all five of the boys she’d been practicing with gasp, cleaning up their gym quickly before heading out for dinner. [Name] notices Hinata’s solemn look and pats him on the shoulder, her smile warm and comforting. And before she can say anything, Kuroo waves the two over. “Hey, Chibi-chan. We’ll continue the match tomorrow, yeah?”

Hinata’s eyes widen, and he grins. “Sure!”

Meanwhile, Bokuto also runs up to the Karasuno pair. “Hey, [Name]-san, was it? You’re pretty damn good at receives! What team do you play for? Do you play for Karasuno, too?”

“Oh, no, I don’t go to Karasuno,” [Name] answers coolly. “I go to Seirin, but I don’t play any sports, there.”

“Seirin? Here, in Kanto?” Akaashi arches a brow beside Bokuto. “I’ve heard of that school before. Isn’t that the one that opened up just two years ago? And has a really good basketball team already, even though it’s short on players?”

“That’s the one!” [Name] chortles. “I manage for the basketball team, actually.”

“Oh, so you live in the same prefecture as us, [Name]-san!?” Bokuto gasps wildly. “How come I’ve never seen you around? Do you live nearby!?”

“I’m afraid that I live closer to inner-city Tokyo than I do out here to the suburbs; my apartment is probably half an hour out from here by train,” she admits softly. “But the majority of our basketball games are held in a gym only about ten minutes out from Shinzen.”

Kuroo, however, arches a brow. “If you go to Seirin and manage their basketball team, what brought you all the way out to Karasuno’s volleyball club? Isn’t Miyagi, like, two hours away or something?”

Hinata slings an arm around [Name]’s shoulders in a friendly manner as he grins. “‘Cuz she’s really good friends with all of us! And she’s super helpful, too!”

[Name] laughs, also putting an arm around Hinata’s shoulders; he blushes at this. Just when he thinks he’s finally confident enough to make a small move on her, she only turns it around in his face yet again. “Yes, I do like you guys a lot. Also, Ukai Keishin, their coach, is a personal friend of mine. He asked me to help out with these guys a while back, so I couldn’t refuse. I’ve become great friends with everyone on the Karasuno team since. In any case, this school is also only about a couple hours out from the beach I’m going to with my basketball team for the next two weeks for training camp, whereas my house would’ve been another thirty minutes away, so it wasn’t out of my way to come here.”

“The beach!? No fair!” Bokuto exclaims. “I wish we had our training camps at the beach! That sounds like so much fun!”

“Well, it can be,” [Name] smirks devilishly. “However, you don’t want to overlook how difficult conditioning in the sand can be.”

Hinata and Bokuto cringe in fear at the tone of her voice as Kuroo chuckles, enjoying her mischievous nature. “The beach, huh…? That does sound like fun.”

“Well, how come you’re really good at volleyball if you don’t play, [Name]-san?” Bokuto asks with a grin.

She shrugs. “Well, I used to play. Over in America, where I’m from.”

“You’re American!?” Bokuto gasps. “Wow, I couldn’t even tell! Your Japanese is so good! Your accent is so natural!”

Akaashi nods. “It sounds almost like a blend of kanto dialect with some kansai.”

“Really? Thank you!” [Name] laughs, her cheeks flushing a bit. “I learned standard japanese as a kid, but my mother speaks in a south osaka dialect, so...”

“Yeah, [Name]-san played over in America! Both basketball and volleyball!” Hinata gloats about his friend loudly. “And she’s famous for it! She’s such a good libero that she played for the national team in middle school!”

“Whoa, really!?” Bokuto praises her.

“I-It’s not as big of a deal as it seems…” she mutters, blushing deeper, which both Kuroo and Akaashi notice as Hinata and Bokuto continue hyping her up obliviously.

“Hey, how about the black eye!?” the latter points at it. “Where’d you get that?”

“Kageyama hit her,” Hinata answers for the girl.

“O-On accident!” [Name] clarifies as the other three boys’ eyes widen in shock and even a bit of malice. She glares playfully at Hinata as she ruffles up his hair. “I was trying to break up a fight between this firecracker and his jackass setter, but I guess it was a bit more heated than I thought. I got caught in the crossfire, that’s all.”

“You should be more careful, [Last Name]-san,” Akaashi suggests softly, glancing down at her while he walks to her left. “You seem a bit too reckless for your own good, sometimes.”

[Name] flushes when she remembers how she fell from the gym balcony in front of literally everyone earlier that day. She may have done well to play off her embarrassment earlier, but now, she struggles to conceal her humiliation. “I-I really am sorry about that, Akaashi-senpai. I promise I’m usually more careful; I didn’t mean to fall.”

“You did give us all quite the scare,” Kuroo agrees, a bit more seriousness in his tone than can usually be picked up. 

Realizing how annoyingly bashful she must seem, [Name] quickly puts on her smug facade. “Aw, I didn’t realize you all cared for me so much. I mean, you hardly know me, after all.”

Kuroo doesn’t seem to fall for her antics, shrugging with a smirk. “Well, Kenma seems to like you a lot, after everything Chibi-chan has told him about you. And from what I’ve heard, you seem pretty cool, [Name]-san.”

[Name] quickly looks away again, embarrassed by the words. Noticing this, Hinata gets a bit jealous; he’s never been able to make her blush quite like that, before. “W-Well, that’s because [Name]-chan is the coolest person I know!”

“Chan…?” [Name]’s heart skips a beat before she looks at the energetic ginger. “You’ve never called me that before.”

“O-Oh! Sorry, is that okay…?” Hinata asks quickly, worried he may have overstepped his bounds.

Surprisingly, the girl smiles sweetly, her cheeks still rosy as she squeezes his hand. “Of course! You may call me whatever you like. Please call me [Name]-chan from now on!”

Eyes wide and face red, Hinata gasps. “O-Okay!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Does that mean I get to call you [Name]-chan, too?” Bokuto asks with a wild grin.

“Only if I can call you Bokkun,” [Name] quickly regains herself, face back to its normal glow as she winks cutely. 

Surprised by this, Bokuto stands up straight once more, eyes twinkling as he blushes faintly. “Deal!”

“Hey, does that mean I’ll get a cute little nickname if I call you [Name]-chan, too?” Kuroo asks flirtatiously, hands in his pockets.

She hums. “A nickname for you might be kinda difficult, Kuroo-kun.”

He also hums, a bit of disappointment in his voice. “And why is that?”

“Well, your name is very similar to one of my best friend’s,” she begins to explain. “See, he’s on my basketball team.”

“Eh, you mean, Kuroko-san?” Hinata asks.

“Mm hmm. His first name is Tetsuya,” [Name] nods. “Kuroko Tetsuya, Kuroo Tetsurou. See my dilemma?”

“Well, what do you call Kuroko-san?” Akaashi asks, face devoid of interest.

“She calls him Tetsu-chan!” Hinata answers for her enthusiastically.

“Aww!” Kuroo’s shoulders slump as he smiles at [Name]. “When I asked you to call me a nickname, ‘Tetsu’ is what I had in mind. No one calls me that…”

[Name] frowns, genuinely guilty. “I-I’m sorry, Kuroo-kun. I could try, but it might become kinda confusing-...”

“Nah, it’s okay. Don’t get your panties in a twist or anything,” he sighs, mischief gleaming in his golden eyes as he uses one of his hands to tilt her chin. “I like the way you say my name as it is, anyway.”

Hinata begins to growl ferally under his breath at the interaction, Bokuto also frowning in his best friend’s direction. Akaashi, who is stuck in between [Name] and Kuroo, allows his narrow eyes to linger on the latter, watching him very carefully. After a couple seconds of silence, the girl giggles, her angelic smile as luminous at the full moon above. “Okay, Kuroo-kun!”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day, [Name] wanders down the halls of Shinzen towards the cafeteria; she’s in charge of lunch for today. Therefore, she’ll show up an hour earlier than the managers do to help prepare the kitchen. 

As she rounds a corner rather narrowly, humming jubilantly under her breath, she gasps when she knocks into someone, falling backwards from the impact. Landing on her backside, she groans softly.

“O-Oh! I’m sorry!” she looks up at her victim, though he isn’t very tall in the first place. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

“No, forgive me. I should’ve been more careful,” the libero of Nekoma smiles, offering her his hand.

She takes it gratefully, allowing him to pull her up. She smiles kindly as she brushes herself off a bit, her eyes flickering gold. “Thank you! You’re Yaku Morisuke, right? Nekoma’s libero?”

Eyes wide, the third year looks down at her curiously, barely an inch taller. “Y-Yes. I’m surprised you know my name. You’re a manager for Karasuno, aren’t you?”

With a blink, her eyes fade back to their normal tantalizing hue. “Ah, you’re mistaken. I don’t attend Karasuno, but I do help out their team a lot. Their coach is a family friend of mine.”

“Oh, I see. How generous of you,” Yaku praises softly, suddenly remembering something. “Hey, that means you’re the girl Kenma’s been texting with recently, right?”

“I suppose so. I don’t know how many girls Kenma texts, so…”

Yaku snorts. “Trust me, you’re the only one. It seems that you and Hinata are the only two he ever communicates with in the first place.”

“I see. Well, Kenma’s really cool! I love playing video games with him,” [Name] chirps cutely before her eyes flicker to a nearby clock on the wall. “Ah! Excuse me! I shouldn’t keep you from practice any longer! I’ll see you later for lunch!”

“O-Oh, sure! See ya’, um-...” Yaku curses under his breath, unable to remember her name after Kenma and Lev have talked about her multiple times.

“Call me [Name]!” she calls over her shoulder before running off.

Yaku smiles. “[Name]-san.”

After another day full of hill sprinting punishments, the Karasuno team dives right back into personal training. [Name] leaves Kageyama with Yachi again - this time with Ukai staying behind to help as well - as she accompanies Hinata back to gymnasium three, where they resume their three-on-three match. Kuroo lectures the two male Karasuno players present about read-blocking while they’re there.

Tsukishima questions this behavior. “Um, sorry, but aren’t we technically rivals as soon as we begin a match against one another? Why are you giving us advice?”

“Because I have always been a good person,” Kuroo answers innocently, though, no one’s falling for it. The captain glowers at their deadpans. “You don’t have to look at me like that. In any case, I really want the dumpster showdown to happen again this year. It’s what our coach wants more than anything; but who knows how much longer Nekomata will continue to be coaching, at his age? So, in order to ensure the Dumpster Showdown happens this year, I need to make sure that Karasuno keeps winning, too. Anyway, this is still practice for me, too, so don’t go thinking about it too much. Come on, let’s get started. Same teams as yesterday.”

As the score stands 10-9, cats (Kuroo) in favor over owls (Bokuto), [Name] sets a ball that Kuroo receives, tossing it cleanly for Tsukishima to spike. The hit goes straight to Hinata to receive, who’s not the greatest in that area. His pass goes a bit long, forcing Akaashi to adjust in order to cover for the mistake. He can barely reach the ball to toss it to Bokuto.

“Sorry, it’s a bit short!” the setter calls out.

“Surround him! Spread the block!” Kuroo orders Tsukishima as the two tall players jump together, [Name] remaining to be behind them.

“Damn you!” Bokuto smirks as he jumps for the spike. “Damn first year, blessed with your height! Why do you have to be so fucking tall all the time?”

Therefore, knowing he can’t break the block, Bokuto opts to ricochet the ball of their palms with a gentler touch, allowing it to arch smoothly back over his head. Hinata gasps at this, recognizing the move to be purposeful, his intent to regroup in order to come up with a better play. Bokuto backs up and overhand passes it to his setter.

“Here, Akaashi!” he announces before preparing to jump again. “Give me a good toss!”

The setter does as told, having better footing this time. He sends a high toss to the broad side of the net, allowing Bokuto to find a spot past the block. The straight hit streaks past Tsukishima, sailing straight against the line. Kuroo curses softly as he glances over his shoulder as [Name] dives for it. While she does manage to get a hand under it, it isn’t quite enough, the ball bouncing off her knuckles and hurtling into the wall. She grunts softly as she tumbles onto her side, rolling back up again with a frustrated grin on her face.

“Yeah! Hey, hey, hey!” Bokuto celebrates the point that ties the score up for now.

“T-That just now! It was on purpose, wasn’t it!?” Hinata asks restlessly. “When you lightly tapped it against the blocker’s hand!?”

Glancing down at Hinata, Bokuto smiles as he puts a hand on his hip. “Yup! It’s called a rebound!”

Eyes glittering, Hinata flushes in excitement. “A rebound!? That’s so cool!”

The compliment quickly going to his head, Bokuto’s eyes also begin to twinkle as he scratches the back of his head somewhat bashfully. “Is it? It is, isn’t it?”

With a sigh, [Name] shakes her head and puts a hand on her hip, chortling as Hinata begins to nod vigorously. Kuroo glances down at her beside him, very short compared to his height, well over six feet. “Hina-chan sure has a natural talent for egging people on, doesn’t he?”

Regardless, Bokuto explains the move to the short decoy. “Say if your balance is off and your sure that you’d be blocked if you take the shot as it is, you lightly hit the ball against the blockers on purpose so that it can rebound back and be set back up once more. That way you can have a cleaner attack less likely to be blocked. Though, it can fail pretty often, seeing as the blockers will just slam it back down on your side of the court most of the time…”

Akaashi nods, expressionless as always. “That happens to you a lot, Bokuto-san.”

The ace keels over as the setter then looks away, uninterested. “Akaashi, that was your cue to say ‘but that hasn’t happened as much, recently’! Ugh… In any case, spiking isn’t all about slamming it into the opponent’s floor. If you stay calm, you’ll see the way to fight!”

“Oh, that hasn’t happened as much lately, Bokuto-san!” Akaashi chimes in with his monotone voice, teasing the ace flatly.

“You’re late, Akaashi!” Bokuto spits back.

Meanwhile, as the two Fukurodani players bout, both Kuroo and Tsukishima catch [Name]’s prideful glance towards Hinata, who’s wide eyes gleam with wonder and excitement. The six play late into the night, learning to eat beforehand in order to stay late. Seven sets in, the score standing 15-16, cats are in the lead. As Kuroo digs a ball, it hurdles towards Tsukishima; [Name] glances over her shoulder, Kuroo still getting up from the ground. Therefore, she runs forward to the net.

“I’m here, Tsukki!” she calls softly, bounding off the floor and sailing parallel to the net. 

Eyes wide, Tsukishima bumps the ball her way, cursing himself when he sees it may be a bit short. However, [Name] compensates, reaching out a bit as she hits it, sending a wobbly cross shot over the net. Clenching his teeth, Akaashi dives and barely picks the ball up before it can hit the ground, sending it back to Bokuto. [Name] also curses herself for the weak spike; the particular attack has never been her strong suit to begin with.

“Nice receive, Akaashi!” Bokuto calls before bumping the ball back towards the front of the net. “Chibi-chan, I’m counting on you for the last hit!”

“Right!” Hinata nods, gulping at the intimidating wall of Kuroo and Tsukishima before him; as well as [Name] standing a couple steps behind, waiting to dig any spike Hinata gets past them.

“Oi! It’s not nice to crowd like that!” Bokuto teases the opposing players.

As Hinata jumps for the spike, Kuroo’s and Tsukishima’s hands loom over him, seeming more like an umbrella than a wall, at this point. Feeling hopeless, he recalls Bokuto’s advice from before. Instead of rebounding, however, he aims the spike upwards, grazing the tips of Kuroo’s fingers and sending the ball flying high towards the back of the court. Bokuto and Akaashi gasp at the split second decision Hinata made in the air, impressing Kuroo as well. The spike was powerful enough to fly so far back that [Name] can’t reach it in time, diving and completely missing as the ball bounces against the floorboards with a thud.

Kuroo gazes down at Hinata on the other side of the net. “That was a pretty amazing wipe! Did you aim for that?”

“Well, it’s true that I aimed for your fingertips, but…” Hinata rubs the back of his head with a cheeky smile. “It was just a coincidence that it actually hit you. I can’t promise I’d be able to hit that accurately all the time-...”

“That was a double block of blockers over 180 centimeters, you know!?” Bokuto interjects, ruffling up Hinata’s hair proudly. “Not to mention you had to deal with my terrible toss! Well done! I’m moved!”

At these words from an ace of national caliber, Hinata’s ego also begins to swell, chuckling to himself as his eyes twinkle in admiration. Akaashi deadpans, glancing at [Name] as she joins the group by the net, having retrieved the ball she missed. “It seems Bokuto-san is a natural at egging people on, too.”

“As a reward for inspiring me like you did, tiny spiker, I shall bestow to you a new special attack!” Bokuto announces with a grin, granting Hinata a sense of euphoria with the simple words.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day is the last day of the training camp, and everyone’s continuing to give it their all. A few matches into the day, [Name] delivers the scores of each team to every team captain, out of courtesy rather than being asked to do so. These sheets reveal the stance of each team, with Fukurodani winning the most sets of any team and Karasuno winning the least.

Speaking of which, Karasuno finishes their match with Ubugawa as [Name] hands the last sheet to Kuroo, who thanks her. The team of crows loses the set 25-23, rounding up for their penalty laps. For the last day, seeing as the temperature outside is beginning to get dangerously high, they switched hill sprints to flying laps around the gym instead.

Gasping, [Name] bows to the Nekoma captain before running over to them with a grin. Ever since two days ago, she started joining them during their penalty laps, her only reason being that she wanted to ensure she was still exercising while on this trip. She smiles and laughs with every dive, praising Hinata for the improvement in his form.

As Karasuno finishes their laps, [Name]’s the only one who isn’t out of breath, seeing as she hasn’t been playing sets all day on top of the punishments. Therefore, she jumps up with ease and runs over to the bench in order to help Kiyoko and Yachi with water bottles. Tanaka isn’t as spry, laying flat on the floor once he’s finished, pounding his fist against the floorboards in frustration. “Damn it! Are we gonna keep losing until the very end?”

“You guys, do your best! We have to survive!” Daichi tells Tanaka, as well as the rest of the stupid quartet, who are gasping for air beside him. The four look up at their captain as he speaks. “I overheard this by coincidence, so I thought I should keep quiet about it, but… Once all the practice matches scheduled for today are over, the coaches are treating us all to-....”

Fukurodani has just finished their set against Nekoma, watching as Karasuno finishes their laps. “Akaashi, who are we playing next?”

Akaashi stops drinking his water in order to answer. “Karasuno.”

“Damn…” Konoha sighs.

“What is it?” Bokuto asks, genuinely curious.

“Well, Karasuno’s sort of the hardest team to play against. You can never tell what the hell they’ve got up their sleeve.”

“At least they’re bound to be running out of stamina from performing all those punishment laps,” Komi, their libero, suggests optimistically. 

And just as he says this, all the Fukurodani regulars glance over at Karasuno, seeing Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, and Tanaka all performing some weird dance together as they chant ‘meat’ over and over again, none of them seeming to be tired at all. If anything, they seem to be re-energized. Akaashi deadpans at the sight. “Their endurance is truly terrifying.”

Water bottles in hand, [Name] approaches the four with a curious expression, intrigued by the dance they’re performing. Before she questions it, however, she mindlessly joins in, dancing with them carelessly as they continue to chant. They grin at her as she joins them.

“What’s all this about?” she asks with a chuckle, handing Nishinoya a water bottle.

“[Name]-san!” the libero takes the drink from her giddily. “Daichi-san told us that when all the sets are finished for the day, we’re gonna have a barbecue!”

“A barbecue!” Hinata and Tanaka repeat the word jubilantly as [Name] also hands them their bottles, as well.

Gasping, [Name]’s bright [E/C] eyes twinkle. “A barbecue…? How exciting!”

The three boys marvel at the expression painted onto the temporary manager’s features after she hears this information; one of pure bliss. The two second years grin, loving the enthusiasm coming from the girl. Who knew she had a taste for manly cuisine on the grill? Their respect for [Name] grows more and more everyday. Hinata also flushes at the face she makes, wondering how she’ll act once the barbecue actually begins. Meanwhile, Kageyama continues to vibe in his own little world, only being brought back to reality as [Name] hands him his bottle. 

She smiles as Hinata returns his water back to her once he’s finished drinking. “Good luck in your next match, Hina-chan.”

“Ah, thank you!” he beams in response, stretching out his legs. “I’m hoping I can find a way to use that new move that Bokuto-san taught me last night in this next set!”

“That would be nice!” [Name] nods in agreement, clasping her hands behind her back as she stares off into nowhere in particular, a soft smile gracing her lips. “Though, I think I’d like to see this new quick of yours be successful before I leave today...”

Hinata stares at her, processing these words; that’s right. [Name] leaves with her basketball team for the beach tonight. He then looks over his shoulder at Kageyama, who’s stretching his arm out a few paces away. “Yeah, me too.”

“Hmm?” [Name] glances back at the ginger, seeing as his words are no longer directed towards her.

“Kageyama!” he jumps back up from his stretch, approaching the setter, who glances back at him at the sound of his name. “I want to hurry up and hit that flying toss!”

This request gains the attention of the entire team, no one too far out, as they’re stretching in somewhat of a group. They wait in anticipation for Kageyama’s response, which isn’t at all what they expected. He only closes his eyes calmly. “Don’t rush. As long as I’m missing the tosses, it won’t be good practice for you.”

[Name]’s eyes widen at these words, the corners of her mouth twitching as she holds back her excitement. To hear Kageyama actually respect Hinata for once; it’s refreshing. Hinata seems to notice this, too, daunting a teasing smirk. “I was thinking the same thing, too, but hearing you say it in such a considerate way is really unsettling. In any case, hurry up and perfect the toss soon! I want to hit it!”

Clenching his teeth, Kageyama playfully grabs Hinata by the collar and throws him a few feet, yelling at him. “That’s why I’m desperately practicing the hell out of it, you dumbass!”

Kageyama launched Hinata far enough to send him stumbling into [Name], standing just a few meters behind said redhead. The boy trips up and knocks into her, also sending her flying back-first into the floor, the water bottles in her clutch sent scattering as well. Hinata loses his balance, falling on top of her with a grunt. Kageyama’s eyes widen, wanting to apologize for accidentally knocking over [Name], but his pride not allowing it to be accepted by Hinata. 

Said decoy’s eyes also widen when he realizes what position he’s currently in with said girl. His face flushes as he looks down at her beneath him, his bodyweight pressed on top of her own. He can feel her ribs pressing against his, her unimpressive chest rising and falling with each breath, her smooth shin brushing against his calf. 

“I-I’m so sorry-...” he begins to apologize, red-faced, only to lose his words when he sees her to be unaffected by the position at all, eyes half-lidded as she laughs melodically. “W-What is it, [Name]-chan?”

“Well, it’s just-... You’re always calling Tobio the ‘King of the Court’, right?” she begins to clarify, her eyes twinkling with amusement as they stare deeply into Hinata’s chocolate ones, her smile hauntingly beautiful. “But today, it looks like the crown is on your head, Hina-chan, demanding such a toss like that!”

Eyes wide at her words, Hinata can no longer move, barely even breathe, as he stares down at her, face flushing for a different reason now. One of realization and pride rather than embarrassment. And after hearing [Name]'s words, the nearby Karasuno third years all glance at each other and smile knowingly. Two second years in particular, however, aren’t too overjoyed by how long Hinata has gotten away with lying on top of [Name].

“Oi, Shoyo, you perv! You gonna lay there all day!?” Nishinoya growls.

“Yeah, you enjoying the view!?” Tanaka slurs intimidatingly.

He doesn’t seem to hear them, however, eyes still wide as he looks down at [Name] beneath him. Mindlessly, he reaches his hand out to her face, his thumb grazing over the bruise covering her temple and painting around her right eye.

[Name] has always been a couple centimeters taller than Hinata. This sour fact was evident to him the moment that she stepped into Karasuno's volleyball gym for the first time at the beginning of summer. In a traditional sense, this should hurt Hinata's pride. Initially, it did.

Now, however, he's learned to love it. He's sure he'll outgrow her in the coming years, anyway. Therefore, he cherishes this time he has with her now, where they're roughly the same height. Where he can look her directly in her mesmerizing eyes, so full of passion and youth and strategy; her eyes are constantly brimming with life. 

He likes the idea of feeling her arm comfortably slung over his shoulder for another year or so. The idea of giving her easy access to his ginger locks to ruffle up, so that he may witness her enjoyable expression as she does so.

Unlike many other people, Hinata roughly gets to stand on the same level as [Last Name][Name]. He gets to experience the world from her point of view, sharing all of that wonder with her. No one can stare as deeply into the windows of [Name]'s soul as often as he can; every time he meets her wondrous gaze, he feels as if he's drawn in even deeper- journeying further down into her ethereal pools than anyone else has ever ventured. No one else is as capable of such a feat as he is with his stature. 

As of right now, Hinata stands on [Name]'s level. This fact doesn't change even as he lies horizontally on top of her, chest pressed to chest. Despite holding the advantage ever-so-slightly on a vertical plane, the girl feels almost delicate beneath him on the floor. He bites his lip, feeling guilty for thinking that she's anything less than the most powerful and confident individual he's ever come across. 

The bruise staining her smooth complexion, however, makes it difficult for Hinata to remember that in this moment, limbs intertwined and ribcages clashing against one another in varied breathing patterns. His heart rate picks up, and Hinata wonders if [Name] can feel it. He can't feel hers. 

Lying on top of her, it's as if he can't feel anything tangible at all.

[Name] makes him want to remain his current height forever. 

She arches a brow at him as his fingertips linger on the curve of her cheekbone. “What is it, Hina-chan?” 

Snapping back to reality, Hinata’s entire face turns a shade that would rival a sunsetting sky as he begins to scramble off of [Name] in a clumsy fashion, not wanting to touch her in any place she might not approve of by accident. She laughs at him bubbly as he trips up and falls on her again, apologizing repeatedly before he can finally stand on his own as well as help her back up to her feet. Even then, he bows and apologizes again and again. 

“All right, shit heads, gather ‘round!” Ukai calls out to the entire team, clapping his hands twice. “This set against Fukurodani will be our last match of the trip. In any case, all the new things you guys are planning, I don’t care if it’s just one of them; land one before the end of today and make yourselves feel good about it. Also, I say this every time, but don’t let Fukurodani’s No. 4 have a field day. In the end, this training camp was mostly about running penalty laps. However, compared to the first half last week, all of you have changed in your own ways. We’ve yet to win a set against Fukurodani, so take this chance to earn yourselves a refreshing victory before the barbecue!”

“Right!” the team cheers loudly before taking the court, [Name] smiling proudly beside their coach.

“They’re like cogs in a machine, aren’t they?” she mutters aloud, glancing at Ukai, who gives her a confused look of his own. “During the entirety of this trip, each one of them have been working on solo improving their own skills; enhancing their own gear. And once those gears are fit enough to successfully be put all together, meshing with one another during a match, well-... they’ll be an unstoppable machine, don’t you think?”

Eyes wide, Ukai grins at this. “You’ve always had a way with words, [Name]-san.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck school y'all. And fuck my boss. Some of my coworkers, too, while we're at it. I'm pissed off so enjoy some fluffy moments with some 2D volleyball enthusiasts.
> 
> Also, I made a playlist for [Name]. I think the vibes are decent if you wanna check it out. Let me know if there are some other songs you think would fit her vibe :)
> 
> open.spotify.com/playlist/5KLhJVD78HBFBmledVQnv8?si=IvAbRUuwSR2PXR5FX3YmDw 


	23. Similarities

As the set against Fukurodani begins, Asahi is first up to serve. He bounces the ball at his feet several times, taking a deep breath in preparation. Tossing the ball up high into the air, he runs forward and leaps at the line, swinging and hitting it on its descent with a grunt. It goes flying over the net, where the Fukurodani libero has to dive in order to keep it in play. The pass is a bit off, forcing Akaashi to take a few steps out of standard setting position in order to toss it.

“Over here, Akaashi!” Bokuto calls for the ball, running up the left side.

Tsukishima moves to stand beside Kageyama, not facing him as he advises, “Tighten up for the straight. If there’s even the slightest gasp, he’ll get the ball through.”

Having no time to question it, Kageyama does as told and steps slightly to the right to block any path for a straight. Bokuto’s eyes widen when his spike is blocked by Kageyama; unfortunately for Karasuno, the deflection flies out of bounds off of the setter’s touch, giving the point to Fukurodani. As the opposing team celebrates their first point of the set, Bokuto smirks cruelly at the two first years who blocked his spike.

“You guys keep getting better and better everyday,” he states with a smiling slur. “It’s getting really fucking annoying.”

A bit longer into the set - scored 5-6 in Fukurodani’s favor - another rally is in motion. As Tanaka spikes the ball over the net, it’s just barely received, even if the pass is way off from Akaashi’s position. Therefore, the setter has to accommodate for the botched ball, running back and jumping in order to reach the ball in time. He then sends a quick toss behind his head to one of the spikers, the set precise; Fukurodani scores the point.

“A quick from there!?” Takeda gasps, astonished. “Amazing…”

“Yeah, their setter is impressive,” Ukai agrees with a nod.

Said setter returns to his position as the next player gears up to serve. As soon as he reaches the net, Akaashi’s eyes glide over to the side of the court, scanning the Karasuno bench for one person in particular. And when [Name] feels his emotionless and calculating stare on her, she turns to look back at him. When their eyes meet, Akaashi keeps contact with her gaze for a few seconds before looking away; it was as if he was ensuring that [Name] was watching when he made the play. As far as Akaashi’s concerned, she was. And instead of continuing to focus on the setter, [Name]’s eyes glide to the person who moves to stand beside him; she smirks. Bokuto’s back up front in the formation.

Nishinoya cleanly receives the opponent’s serve, his pass headed straight for Kageyama, who tosses the ball to Tsukishima in the middle. The blond’s spike is picked up by one of Fukurodani’s spiders, who sends it straight back to Akaashi.

“Nice, Saru!” Bokuto grins, waving an arm over his head. “Give me the last one!”

“Right now, our front row is in the rotation where the wall is at its strongest,” Ukai states from the bench, arms folded. “If anyone can stop the ball, it’s them.”

[Name]’s eyes gleam gold as she looks over the three jumping for the block; the three tallest players on the team. Asahi, Kageyama, and Tsukishima. They all jump, arms outstretched to block Bokuto’s attack. They weren’t expecting him to side swipe the ball with so much power, however, hitting it nearly parallel on their side of the net in order to score the point. [Name] grins, brows furrowed. “What an insane cut shot…”

“All right!” Bokuto hypes himself up before grinning stupidly towards his setter. “Hey, did you see that, Akaashi? Did you see my awesome cut shot just now?”

With a huff, Akaashi decides to entertain his captain, glancing at him boredly. “I did. Amazing.”

Despite the dryness of his tone, Bokuto’s ego swells from the compliment, feint modesty as he waves. “Ah, well, it was mostly just luck!-...”

“Nice kill, Bokkun!” [Name] calls over in amusement from the bench.

Eyes twinkling, Bokuto grins happily as he shoots her a thumbs up. “Thanks, [Name]-chan!”

Takeda smiles, clearly amused. “That number four on Fukurodani is such a strange player, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean, sensei?”

“Well, even if you aren’t on the same team as him, you almost want to cheer for him, I guess,” Takeda tries to explain, scratching the back of his head meekly. “Though, that might just be because I think he’s a player on a whole different level!”

[Name] smiles at this, glancing at the wonder in Hinata’s eyes, worshipping the opposing ace silently. “That’s true. Bokkun is my favorite kind of athlete; he lifts the spirits of both his teammates and his opponents while he plays. It’s always a sight to behold.”

A couple more volleys into the set, and the score stands 6-9, Fukurodani holding onto their lead. After Fukurodani collects Tsukishima’s serve and quickly sends it back over, Nishinoya skillfully crouches down to receive it. Kageyama tosses the ball to Hinata, who dove into first tempo. As the ginger leaps into the air, he faces two opposing players in the block, one of them being Akaashi. And as he swings to spike the ball, he recalls the advice Bokuto had given him the night before; the special new attack he had taught him in gymnasium three.

And through his swing, right as his palm is about to hit the ball, Hinata stops the momentum, just barely tapping the ball over top of the block with his fingertips. And just like that, everyone on both sides of the court look at him with wide eyes, the ball hitting the ground before anyone can dive to stop it. And as Hinata lands back on his feet, he gazes down at the two players who failed to save the ball with wide eyes, laying flat on their stomachs beneath him. For once, in his entire volleyball career, he gets to look down on someone else.

And that feeling is one he deperately needed to feel.

Bokuto double-takes, gasping in horror. “A FEINT!?”

Akaashi deadpans. “You’re the one who taught it to him.”

Meanwhile, Kageyama’s jaw is hanging slack as he looks at Hinata, still trying his best to comprehend what just happened. “Y-You actually used your head!? You’re gonna get a fever! Are you feeling okay?”

Hinata glares at him, brow twitching. “You are the only person who isn’t allowed to say stuff like that to me!”

Bokuto glances at the Karasuno bench, intrigued by [Name]’s ferocious grin, her eyes locked onto the pair of first year deviants. Smirking, he folds his arms and announces, “From this point on, I won’t let them score even one more point!”

It’s hard to tell if Akaashi is deadpanning or just adopting his normal emotionless stare, at this point. “I don’t think it’s possible to completely shut them out…”

“Akaashi, back me up every once in a while!” Bokuto begs in disbelief before grinning at Hinata. “Damn that Chibi-chan! We’re not gonna lose!”

Tsukishima serves once more, and Fukurodani once again quickly sends it back. Daichi stops the spike, returning the ball to Kageyama to set. Upon seeing this, the spikers immediately line up for the attack, leaping towards the net, only for Kageyama to calculatingly shove the ball over the net on his own, scoring the point himself.

Takeda gasps, eyes twinkling. “A dump!? Wow! Kageyama-kun is doing really well! He hasn’t missed a single one of his jump serves today, either. Right, [Last Name]-san?”

Her smile is soft, eyes stone cold. “Not to my recollection.”

“Stop trying to act as if you’re normal like us, [Name]-san. You have perfect recall,” Ukai teases before he glances back at Kageyama on the court. “Yeah, Kageyama is super composed and concentrated today. It's eerie, in a way.”

“It’s like experiencing the calm before the storm,” [Name] puts a name to the feeling.

“Yeah, that’s it!” Ukai agrees with a chuckle. “Kinda scares me, you know?”

Tsukishima’s back up to serve, casually upperhand serving the ball over the net. Kageyama watches with calculating steel blue eyes as Fukurodani sets up their next attack, clearly concentrated on his next move. His movements are all precise, his decisions made with composure. As he jumps to take the toss, not an ounce of concern is present on his face. Hinata’s doing just as well; he hasn’t been making any unnecessary movements, making a lot of points for the team.

[Name] licks her lips; they may just be able to pull it off if they tried it now. However, it’s not her decision to make; nor Hinata’s. It’s up to Kageyama if he wants to pull it off or not, seeing as he has to send the specific toss in the first place.

But as Hinata takes off towards the net at a minus tempo, not even aware of the speed compared to first tempo, [Name] realizes that maybe the decoy is capable of being in charge of the decision. It’s quite clear that he wants to do the new quick. Kageyama knows this, too, reaching up to set the pass from Daichi. He side eyes Hinata, however, knowing that if they mess this up, the good atmosphere surrounding the entire team right now may shatter. And in that moment, he decides it is best if they just hold off on attempting to do the new quick until the chances of success are higher.

And suddenly, just before the ball is about to fall into his waiting fingertips, it’s as if Kageyama can hear Hinata’s voice ringing through his head.

'You aren’t going to do it…?'

Eyes wide, Kageyama glances to his right, Hinata’s expecting eyes on him as he flies through the air, calling for the toss he desires. And a bit beyond him, sitting on the bench, is [Name], eyes glued to the ravenette, the right one still blackened. His breath hitching, Kageyama recalls what he overhead her tell Hinata just before the match started. 

‘I think I’d like to see this new quick of yours be successful before I leave today…’

After today, they might not see [Name] again for a long time; maybe even months. Kageyama clenches his teeth. It would be disrespectful of him to hold back now. He thinks back to all the nights that [Name] stayed behind with him in order to aid him perfect this toss. The advice and encouragement she’s given him through every training session. All that she’s sacrificed to make this quick attack work for him and Hinata. This quick attack is as much [Name]’s as it is Kageyama’s and Hinata’s. She has to see it score a point at least once before she leaves again.

And in the blink of an eye, the ball streaks from Kageyama’s fingertips to the peak of Hinata’s swing with pinpoint accuracy. None of the blockers can even react in time to jump for a block; and it’s hard to notice if you aren’t specifically watching for it, but the spin on the toss is so perfect that the ball comes to a stop right before Hinata, his eyes wide open as he swings for the spike. And like a whizzing bullet, the ball rockets into the floor of Fukurodani’s side of the court, the loud thud of it hitting the floorboards reverberating throughout the gym.

A brief moment of silence befalls both teams, distant sounds from the set going on on the other side of the gym echoing in the background. The whistle blows, and the score is tied up, 9-9. Hinata and Kageyama slowly turn to look at each other, their eyes meeting briefly before they both smile at each other like idiots, jumping up and cheering in celebration. Kageyama’s the first to snap out of it, his bipolar nature flipping his grin in seconds. “Wait, you dumbass! If we’re going to try that again, you have to tell me beforehand! I was barely ready!”

“I-I just felt like we could pull it off!” Hinata quickly defends himself. “Didn’t you?”

Before Kageyama can even answer, the pair both turn to look at the loud cheer coming from the bench courtside. Their eyes widen when they see the pure amount of happiness and pride radiating from [Name] as she sprints onto the court without a second thought, tackling them both to the ground with a grin. “Holy shit! You guys actually pulled it off!”

“Did you see, [Name]-chan!?” Hinata asks giddily from on his back. “Did it look super cool!?”

“Hell yeah, it looked cool!” [Name] confirms as she kneels in between them, ruffling up their hair proudly. “You guys are phenomenal, you know that? I can’t stand it! I don’t think there’s anything you two aren’t capable of pulling off!”

As [Name] continues to hype them up, Bokuto still stares at the spot the ball hit the floor, baffled. “What the hell was that? Was that the same weird fast attack as always?”

“Not quite,” Akaashi answers softly, his eyes glued on the three as they grin at one another like idiots, all on the floor. “That was different from the quick they’ve been doing since the beginning.”

“Whoa, was it really that cool!?” Bokuto gawks. “Can we try it, then, too!?”

Akaashi’s eyes narrow, this time focusing on the only girl on the court. “No. That’s something that we should never try. Hinata-san may have hit it like it was nothing, but a toss like that can only be hit by someone who’s used to it. And a toss like that can only be perfected with the right kind of help; from someone who’s incredibly skilled and knowledgeable… Not to mention making a toss float like that right at the point of impact is an incredible move. To be honest, at my skill level, it would be impossible to pull off.”

Just as [Name] stops rambling in order to catch her breath, Kageyama and Hinata both glance at one another, nodding silently before they both turn to look back at the girl kneeling before them. They both get up onto their knees and smile at her, the latter’s being much brighter than the former’s. And simultaneously, they both hold out a fist to her, neither of them saying a word. Their way of saying thanks for all her hard work and help.

[Name] looks down at either one of their hands with wide eyes. As she follows their limbs back to their faces, she can’t help but see Kagami and Kuroko extending their knuckles out to her at first. And after blinking a couple of times, it’s Hinata and Kageyama who return to her view. For some reason, she feels her throat begin to swell up, and she’s holding back tears.

Sniffing, she quickly wipes any stray tears from her eyes. Taking a deep breath, [Name] beams at the two as she fist bumps both of them at the same time, letting her knuckles linger against hers as the three all grin at one another.

“Nice kill, Tobio, Hina-chan!”

And before she can say anything else, [Name]’s being dragged off the court by the collar of her t-shirt, Ukai grumbling angrily under his breath. “...can’t just run onto the court like that…. So chaotic…. Lucky this isn’t an official match…”

[Name] huffs as she’s forcefully sat back onto the bench, Ukai plopping down next to her with his arms folded. The girl sighs before leaning into his field of view with a smug smile. He arches a brow at her in exasperation. “What is it?”

She turns her vision back to Kageyama and Hinata, both of them getting back up on their feet. She smiles. “The first two cogs…”

[Name] sighs, however, when they try to do the quick again and it fails, the toss being a bit too short. As Kageyama beats himself up, projecting his anger onto Hinata, she smiles in amusement. It isn’t something they can expect to get perfect every single time this early on.

Into the next volley, however, a few other teammates ensure that they aren’t overshadowed by the deviant first years. After Hinata manages a one-touch off of a spike, Kageyama dives out of bounds in order to keep it in play. Seeing as the setter touched the ball first, he can’t run back and toss it up for the spikers.

Nishinoya’s eyes widen; this is his moment to shine. All of his personal training has been going towards practicing and honing his skill for this specific play. And this may be the last time he can try it out during a set at this training camp. Breath hitching, he jumps into action, running forward from the back.

“I’ve got it!” he calls loudly, surprising the Fukurodani players. After all it’s illegal for the libero to run across the three meter line to set a ball. However, Nishinoya is very aware of that, keeping his eye on the line dividing the front and the back. And as soon as he reaches it, he jumps up into the air, never setting foot on the front side of the court nearest the net. And as he’s midair, he sets the ball up for Asahi to spike through with his ultimate power as the ace.

[Name] gasps, leaping up from the bench as she cheers. “You did it, Noya-senpai! That was amazing! Amazing!”

Eyes wide, the libero turns his head to look at her, blushing at the wide smile she flaunts, her pearly whites flashing. With a grin of his own, he sends her a thumbs up, his heart racing with excitement. “Thanks, [Name]-san!”

Licking her lips, she looks back at Ukai once more. “And that’s another cog.”

He grins at her. “You’re right. They’re beginning to look like a well-oiled machine, huh?”

The Fukurodani libero, Komi, gawks at Nishinoya in wonder, inspired by the move he just pulled off. “They improved this much in only a week? That’s terrifying...”

And Karasuno isn’t done showing off there. The score now 12-15, Nishinoya sets up a chance ball, and Daichi nods as he calls out their next play. “Now!”

Daichi, Asahi, Tsukishima, and Tanaka all begin their running approach towards the net simultaneously. The synchronized attack they’ve been practicing at first tempo. Fukurodani’s blockers can’t narrow down on one target, seeing as they move in unison. Even then, if they designated one blocker per spiker, they’d only be able to mark three, always leaving a fourth open for the attack. All four of them leap into the air, ready for the ball to come to them whether it does or not. Kageyama ultimately makes his decision as all four of them are midair, tossing the ball smoothly to Tanaka, who powerfully spikes it in between two blockers and scores the point. 

Bokuto’s brows furrow as they celebrate the successful combo attack. “Damn it, they’re attacking from every which way!”

“Keishin-kun…” [Name] mutters after Asahi nails a service ace with his jump serve, her smile one he knows all too well. “The gears are all aligned. This is what they’ve been working their asses off all week for. They’re all seeing success as they finally combine all of their improvements as a team. This is what I like to call evolution.”

And as the score reaches 18-18, the Fukurodani coach calls for a timeout in order to stop the momentum that Karasuno’s been leading for a while now. Ukai grins as [Name], Kiyoko, and Yachi begin handing out water bottles. “You all are kicking ass today. And you also haven’t been letting their ace spike too freely, either. Though, there was that one ridiculous cut shot. But that was because Tsukishima was able to get in that one-touch.”

Everyone turns to look at the blond, drinking his water. Eyes widening slightly, he nods. “Oh, right.”

Ukai continues. “If we can keep number four in control, victory is in sight. Let’s finish this!”

“Yeah!”

The first volley after the timeout goes to Fukurodani, seeing as Noya wasn’t able to save a particularly powerful spike. Bokuto heads to the back of the court with the ball. “All right! I’ll blow them out of the water with my serve!”

Akaashi narrows his eyes at the ace and his particularly heavy stomps. “Bokuto-san, stay calm.”

“I AM CALM!” the wing spiker retorts as he tosses the ball up for the jump serve. “All right! Here goes!”

And as he slams the ball with as much power as he can, sacrificing accuracy in order to do so, the serve just barely misses the back of the middle blocker’s head, scaring the shit out of him as the ball slams into the net inches away from his face. [Name] cocks a brow. “It seems Bokkun is losing his temper…”

Just as she says this, the captain falls to his knees in defeat. “Damn it! I’m sorry!”

“Calm down,” Saru tells him, obviously amused.

“Don’t worry about it,” Akaashi states in his flat tone. 

Meanwhile, Daichi approaches Tanaka, who’s preparing for his serve. “Their number four makes shots from anywhere on the court. Let’s aim for him with our serves to put him in check, even if for just a little while.”

“Right,” Tanaka nods as the whistle blows for the serve. He tosses it up and hits it towards the far corner, where Bokuto’s positioned. The ace dives for it and barely saves it; Tanaka sighs in relief when he sees that the ball barely made it in bounds. “Lucky!”

“You jerk!” Bokuto grunts as he passes the ball back up to Akaashi, then jumping up for the spike. “Give it to me! I’ll finish this in one hit!”

[Name]’s gold eyes narrow at Akaashi as he patiently waits for the ball as it sails towards him in the air. Just by the look in his eyes, she can tell his mind is racing. He has to make a split second decision in the 0.5 seconds he has before he must make the toss. With Bokuto being as fragile and frustrated as he is right now, tossing to him may have different outcomes, based on whether he makes the spike or misses it. And once those five seconds are up, the decision is made without any more time to think.

“Bokuto-san!” Akaashi calls as he sets the ball up high for him.

“Triple block!” Konoha warns.

“All right!” Bokuto grins as he jumps up and slams the ball straight into Hinata’s open palms, the ball arching back to his side.

“Got it!” Saru calls, sending it back to Akaashi once more.

“One more time, Akaashi!” Bokuto orders as he runs back a bit in order to get a better running start towards the net.

Quite visibly aggravated, Akaashi’s lips tighten into a frown as his brows furrow, sending the exact same toss again. “Here, Bokuto-san!”

“All right!” Bokuto hoots once again, leaping upwards.

“This time we’ll stop him for sure!” Asahi yells from the left side of the block.

“Right!” Hinata agrees from the middle.

On the right, Daichi times the jump. “And…. Now!”

As all three of them leap vertically upward into the air, arms outstretched over the net, Bokuto spikes the ball with all of his might, hoping to force it past their block. Hinata prepares himself for the ball to slap against his open palm, but the stinging sensation never comes. His eyes widen when he sees the ball slam into the net right in front of his face, never making it over in the first place. The three Karasuno blockers and the Fukurodani ace hit the floorboards, all staring at the ball as it thuds against the floor, putting Karasuno in the lead 20-19. 

Shoulders heaving with each breath, Bokuto glares at the floorboards, the volleyball by his feet. The five other regulars of Fukurodani deadpan at him. Akaashi groans in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose as he mumbles to himself. “Here it comes...” 

“Akaashi…” Bokuto speaks softly, not looking at him as he throws a hand back at him melodramatically. “Don’t toss to me anymore today!”

All five players deadpan. “There it is. Bokuto-san’s emo mode.”

As [Name] snorts in amusement from her bench, Akaashi’s face wipes itself clean of emotion as he stares at the spiker. “All right, then. And while I’m not tossing to you, please take the time to calm yourself down.”

Daichi blinks at Bokuto’s defeated expression, clearly confused. “All right, I don’t know what’s going on, but their ace doesn’t seem to be doing well. Let’s keep it up!”

“Right!”

Kageyama approaches Hinata, his voice lowered down to a near whisper. “Hinata, we’re going to use that new fast attack again. I’ll give you the toss that you want; so have faith in me and fly.”

Hinata grins at this. “You got it!”

[Name]’s eyes twinkle at the exchange of words between the two. They may not get along that well outside of volleyball, but on the court their faith in one another is unmatched. The relationship rivals Kagami’s and Kuroko’s to an extent.

How lucky can one girl be to meet such amazing people while running away from her problematic home life?

[Name]’s admiration doesn’t go unnoticed, Ukai glancing at her from the corner of his eye, smiling at the happiness that radiates from her aura. A couple other people can feel it, too; several others who have grown close to her through volleyball glance at her, the glitter of her [E/C] eyes motivating them a bit.

For the next couple of volleys, Bokuto proves to be rather useless. Akaashi does as he promised, tossing to every spiker but the ace, who loiters around the court without much intention, his face devoid of any hope. This doesn’t make Fukurodani any less of a powerhouse team, however, seeing as they tie up the match 22-22. Akaashi double high fives the spiker with a smile. “Nice kill.”

Not only that, but Akaashi hasn’t lost any confidence at all. [Name] laughs jubilantly as Akaashi pulls off a skillful and successful dump, single-handedly pulling his team ahead by one point. And with another spike, it’s match point for Fukurodani, 22-24. Ukai sighs, but smiles nevertheless. “I suppose Fukurodani isn’t a team that Bokuto leads, but one in which the other team members lead the way for Bokuto.”

[Name] giggles as Tsukishima blocks the next spike with Kageyama in his wall, denying the match point for Fukurodani. “I suppose you’re right, Keishin-kun.”

With just one more point needed to deuce, Asahi lines up for his jump serve. Both [Name]’s and Ukai’s eyes narrow when they see him take a step back, toss it up and do a normal overhand serve instead. Humming, [Name] frowns, Ukai growling softly.

Meanwhile, as Akaashi lines up for the toss, he glances over his shoulder, sure that Tsukishima and Kageyama have figured out what kind of team he’s apart of by now. He then glances at the bench, finding [Name]’s eyes to be directly on him, a faint smirk dancing on her lips. She then shifts her scrutinizing gaze to Bokuto, who’s desperate to hit a spike so badly that he’s beginning to get fidgety. Akaashi merely smirks back at her smugly as he sends the toss high over to Bokuto, who’s eyes widen.

“Looks like it’s time to pick yourself back up, ace,” [Name] mutters under her breath in amusement.

And Bokuto lines up for the spike, Tsukishima growling as he sprints over to try and jump in time to block with Kageyama. He just barely misses the ball, however, which Bokuto sends flying just between them, hurtling into the floor with a loud bang. And as the whistle chirps, the set ends 23-25 in Fukurodani’s favor. As Karasuno groans in defeat, Akaashi catches his breath, glancing at Bokuto before turning to the other regulars and nodding his head, signaling them to do their thing.

They all nod back, indicating he leave it to them. “Hey, Ace!”

“That was a fantastic spike!”

“In the end, it just has to be the ace who scores the final point!”

At these words, Bokuto grins like a mad man, pumping his fists into the air. “In the end, I am the strongest! Hey, hey, hey!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” the rest of the team half heartedly cheers with him, Akaashi walking away as they do so.

Meanwhile, Asahi bows in deep apology. “I’m sorry, everyone! For that last serve, I chickened out and hit a serve that was just asking them to attack us with everything they had! It won’t happen again!”

Smirking, Ukai folds his arms. “If you can figure that out on your own, then you’re well off. In moments like that, how well you can stay offensive will determine whether or not you’ll come out on top. Nobody wants to end the game on their own mistake.”

Kageyama glances down at Hinata nonchalantly. “He must be talking about you.”

Hair ruffling in annoyance, the ginger glares back up at him. “Shut up!”

Ukai’s smirk grows, eyes on Asahi. “But no one will blame you for trying to serve a ball that could steal the win.”

“Right!” Asahi nods, heeding the advice.

“Well, in the end, we kept up our spectacular losing streak,” [Name] steps forward, standing beside Ukai with her arms folded in amusement at all of their deadpans. “However, one thing’s for certain; your new offensive strategies, now that they’ve all come together, will rival that of the best teams in the country. That is something that you should all be proud of.”

They all stare at her with wide eyes; to be told that from a national player’s perspective that they can compete against top-level teams isn’t something to be looked over. [Name] continues her speech over their baffled looks with a smile:

“I encourage you all to keep working hard at improving yourselves both individually and together as a team. As of right now, your offense only rivals that of the teams you’ve played this week, which is to be expected, seeing as your evolution started long after theirs. However, I implore that you don’t think of the stage you’re all at now to be your limits. You can go further beyond the level of play you are at right now; you can become bigger and better than any team here today if you only continue to desperately get better. Think of it this way; the more colors you have to mix together with one another, the murkier the newly made color gets. And in the end, once all of these colors come together, they make black, which is a color that devours all others and cannot be overtaken. The color of crows, the color of Karasuno. Please live up to the color you’ve chosen to wear. For me.”

Eyes wide and completely speechless, all of the boys stare at [Name] with their mouths agape after she wraps up her speech. For some reason, the words she chose to use really hit them where it counted, their hearts tugging at them from within their chests. Actual tears forming in Daichi’s eyes, he quickly bows down to hide them, bidding everyone follow his suit as captain of the team.

“Thank you so much for being a part of this team, [Name]-san!” his voice nearly cracks. 

“Thank you very much!” the rest of the team repeats, also bowing.

Eyes wide, [Name] beams jubilantly, swelling with pride. “Thank you all for having me!”

“[N-Name]-chan!” Hinata cries out when the team begins to disperse, crocodile tears forming in his tear ducts as he dives forward and tackles her to the ground, looking down at her with wide eyes as the water bottle she holds spills all over her. “You got to see the new quick before you have to leave! Are you proud!? Is it what you imagined!?”

She laughs melodically as she reaches up and wipes a stray tear away. “Everything I imagined and more, Hina-chan. I knew you and Tobio could pull it off.”

“Hinata, you moron, look what you did!” Kageyama barks, yanking the boy off of [Name] by his shirt collar. “You knocked her over and spilled water all over her.”

“It’s no problem, Tobio,” [Name] chirps as the ravenette helps her up by lending her a hand. “A little bit of water never hurt anybody. Besides, I’d be excited as you are if I were you, Hina-chan. That quick is one for the history books, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’d ever be able to pull something like that off.”

Hinata’s eyes twinkle. “That’s not true, [Name]-chan. If it weren’t for you, we’d never be able to pull it off, either! Right, Kageyama?”

“I’d have figured it out eventually on my own-...” Kageyama begins to state, only to wheeze when Hinata tases him between the ribs. He glares at the boy before glancing back at [Name], rolling his eyes stubbornly. “Fine. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you, [Name].”

Said girl beams, grabbing a hand from either boy and holding each up in front of her face proudly, squeezing them firmly as she glances up at them. “I’m really gonna miss you guys…”

Their eyes wide, before the boys can respond, Ukai rips her away, scolding her attire as he points at her shirt. “[Name]-san, I’m tired of telling you this! Things in Japan are different than America; people here aren’t so nonchalant about showing skin in public!”

Confused, she glances down at her white t-shirt, the water soaking through the fabric and clinging to her now visible skin, pink sports bra clearly visible. She snorts. “Oops! My bad.”

Rolling his eyes as Hinata and Kageyama both quickly turn their heads away in fear of their coach’s wrath, he barks at the girl, pointing towards the doors. “Go change!”

Saluting playfully, [Name] does as she’s told. “Yes, sir!”

After their final penalty lap of the training camp, all the teams gather outside for the barbeque that awaits them. As well as all the managers, holding plates and ready to serve food. [Name]’s among them, changed into a dry white sundress that compliments her [complexion] skin; though, it also really makes her fading black eye stand out more, too. That doesn’t stop every single boy in the training camp from being floored when she twirls around, skirt of her dress billowing as she beams stunningly at them, carrying a stack of paper plates in her hands.

It’s hard to tell whether they’re drooling from the sight of [Name] in such a cute sundress - which she actually packed for the beach - or over the desirable meat being grilled before them, but coach Nekomata clears his throat in order to redirect their attentions to him. “Thank you for all the hard work during this one week training camp, folks! Now, let your muscles repair to your heart’s and your stomach’s content!”

“Thank you for the food!” all the boys immediately stampede towards the grills, grabbing plates and chopsticks from [Name] before serving themselves as quickly as possible.

It’s rather a sight for [Name], watching teenage boys devour so much food in one sitting. It reminds her of home, in a way. She doesn’t see as big of appetites in Japan as she had in America. Aside from Kagami, of course, these volleyball boys are the first time she’s really seeing it for herself. 

Kageyama, for example, is shoveling steak into his mouth at such a fast rate that he begins to choke on it, pounding his chest. Amused, [Name] grabs a glass of water and offers it to him, which he quickly takes to wash the food down. He barely even thanks her before going right back to devouring his meal. 

Meanwhile, Nishinoya, Tanaka, and Yamamoto have a meeting off to the side, going over their mission: Don’t let any pervy dudes use the good spirits of the barbecue as an excuse to approach either Kiyoko or [Name] at all costs. As both girls pass by, chatting with one another cheerfully as they gather food onto their own plates, there are more than just a few guys trailing after them hopefully. That is until the three protectors of said girls interject themselves behind them, glaring at the boys intimidatingly as they mark their territory. 

Tsukishima rolls his eyes at the second years, while he sits beside Yamaguchi on the steps, finishing his first and only serving. Noticing this, [Name] excuses herself from Kiyoko to approach the two first years. “Tsukki, you should really eat some more! You worked so hard today!”

He blinks at her. “I can’t eat as much as Hinata and Kageyama can. There’s no way.”

“Yeah, come on, you need to eat some more veggies!” Kuroo adds, approaching [Name] from behind and placing a hand on her shoulder before noticing someone trying to escape his line of vision. “Oi, Kenma! You too! Get off that game already, damn it!”

“Here, have some of my rice, Tsukki!” [Name] offers her plate to him.

“And meat! You need more meat, Tsukki!” Bokuto runs over beside her, opposite of Kuroo, holding out tongs that clasp beef. “If you don’t, you won’t be able to grow big and strong, like me!”

Leave it to [Name] to surround herself with a bunch of tall and dangerous looking guys for Nishinoya and Tanaka to save her from. The latter grabs her wrist. “[Name]-san, let me help you get the tastiest meat that you can’t reach!”

“Yeah, yeah!” Nishinoya drags her by her other wrist. “And I’ll pour you some more lemonade!”

Eyes wide at first, she giggles and runs off with them. “Thanks, guys!”

Kuroo and Bokuto, however, glare at them playfully. “No fun.”

And the barbecue goes on until the sun begins to set. At this point, [Name]’s sitting on the hillside with an assortment of players, laughing with them boisterously as they continue snacking on fruits and rice. She sits in the grass with her white dress billowing around her, her knees tucked under the skirt with her legs folded. Among her group that she sits with is Bokuto, Akaashi, Kenma, Kuroo, Hinata, Lev, Kageyama, Suga, Tanaka, and Nishinoya. They all listen as she tells them stories of her basketball team, and she also listens to their stories as well.

“[Name]-chan, [Name]-chan!” Lev coos, poking her cheek a couple times to gain her attention; her and the half-russian have become rather close over the training camp, as the two -- along with Hinata -- have displayed how their playful natures coordinate well with one another. Although, their mischief has gotten them into trouble multiple times, too; the cockroach incident being one of them. “Are the guys on your basketball team super tall!? Like, taller than me!?”

[Name] hums as she looks over him, eyes glazing gold. “Hmm… Well, the ace of our team is currently the tallest, but you’re about four centimeters taller than him as you are right now, Lev.”

As Lev marvels over this, bragging about his unmatched height, Hinata swallows a piece of meat he’d been gnawing at. “Ah, you mean Kagami-san?”

The girl nods, Bokuto grinning. “Ace!? Is he super cool, like me!?”

“Well, I don’t know if anyone can be quite as cool as you, Bokkun,” [Name] compliments; and despite her teasing intent, Bokuto takes it to heart with a proud grin. “Though, Taiga sure is something else, despite being as stubborn and grumpy as he is.”

And after cleaning and washing up, Karasuno packs their bags and head towards their bus, the sun beginning to dip below the horizon. They’re waved off by players from every team, saying their goodbyes to the team from far out of town. [Name] gives away lots of heartfelt hugs.

“[Name]-chan, don’t go!” Lev cries, kneeling down on his knees in order to hug her. “It’s gonna be so boring without you around! Yaku-san’s just going to kick me more!”

Amused, she pats his head. “Well, someone’s gotta knock some sense into you, silly.”

“Enough! My turn!” said libero kicks Lev aside in order to face [Name], his angered expression soon switching to a sad smile. “It was nice meeting you, [Name]-san. I hope we can see each other again.”

“Aw, me, too, Yaku-senpai!” she smiles, hugging the boy around her height lightly. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you guys at nationals.”

“Does that mean you’ll come along with Karasuno if they make it that far?” he leans back from the hug, eyes wide.

“You mean when they make it,” she winks before pouncing on her next victim. “Kenma! I’m going to miss you!”

Eyes wide, Kenma glances over his shoulder, [Name] having jumped on him from behind. He bashfully looks away. “[Name], you’re being too loud.”

Said girl pouts, hugging him tighter. “Promise you’ll play lots of Animal Crossing with me while I’m gone!”

At this, he smiles smalley with a soft sigh, lightly grabbing one of the arms she had wrapped around his neck from behind. “Of course. You do tell everyone we’re married on the game, after all.”

Beaming, [Name]’s about to say one last goodbye to the Nekoma setter when she’s gently lifted off of him by the Nekoma captain himself, smirking slyly at her as he holds her above the concrete in front of him. “What’s this? [Name]-chan and Kenma are married? Why wasn’t I invited to the wedding? More importantly, why wasn’t I the groom?” 

Annoyed already, Kenma rolls his eyes and walks away, insulting Kuroo under his breath. The Nekoma captain shrugs, setting [Name] down in the process. “It’s just a joke, Kuroo-kun, you know that.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he teases, ruffling up her hair. “Now, isn’t there something you’d like to say to me?”

Thinking for a moment, [Name] quickly shakes her head with a grin. “Nope!”

Kuroo’s brow twitches. “Are you sure there’s nothing at all?”

“Well…” she points up at his head. “I have always wondered how you got your hair to stand up like that without any product in it.”

Fed up with her teasing, Kuroo decides to punish her by tickling her in the side. She bursts out into giggles and tries to run away, but to no avail. She pleads him to let her go between howls of laughter. He smirks evilly. “You know there’s only one way out of this, [Name]-chan.”

“Fine, fine! I’ll miss you, too!” she laughs, catching her breath once he finally stops tickling her, only to pull her into a hug. 

“See, was that so hard?” he coos.

“No, seeing as it’s true,” she smiles up at him, a glint of mischief in her eye as she tazes him in the side. As he doubles over in pain, [Name] skips away giddily, calling over her shoulder. “Don’t forget me during the Spring Tournament, Kuroo-kun!”

As she’s skipping away, [Name] runs face first into a sturdy chest. And before she can look up to see who it is, a pair of powerful arms wrap around her and lift her off the ground. She finally sees the face of her abductor, beaming at who it turns out to be. “Bokkun!”

He grins right back at her, spinning her around as he hugs her tightly. “[Name]-chan! Do you really have to go? I’m gonna miss having you around! No one likes my hugs but you! And you say stuff that makes me feel so cool! I’m gonna miss you so much! It’s not fair!”

“Aww, Bokkun, I’ll miss you, too!” she smiles softly, hugging her arms around his neck. “And you don’t need me to make you feel cool! You’re already one of the top five aces in Japan! You’re super cool on your own!”

He blushes at this, though [Name] can’t see it, since her face is over his shoulder. His tone is a bit softer as he places a hand on her back. “Y-Yeah, I guess… But having you around to tell me stuff like that doesn’t hurt…”

Smiling beautifully, she leans back in his arms in order to look him in the eye. “Tell you what: If you make it to nationals, I’ll be there to cheer you guys on and call you cool for as many of your games as I can.”

Grinning madly, Bokuto hugs her tightly again. “Deal!”

Barely a second later, [Name]’s tugged right out of his arms, her back bumping into her savior’s chest softly. “Bokuto-san, you’re hugging her too tight. Let her breathe.”

Before Bokuto can start mobbing her again, he’s tugged away by the other Fukurodani members, leaving her to be leaning against Akaashi’s sturdy chest. She looks up at him, her view of him upside-down seeing as she cocks her head back against his chest to do so. “It’s all right, Akaashi-senpai. No need to worry about me.”

He looks down at her with a deadpan. “You clearly couldn’t breathe.”

Unable to argue with that, she shrugs and faces him with a smile. He gazes down at her beaming expression longingly, never having seen anything quite like it before. [Name]’s smile is always breathtaking to witness, and her tone melodic. He really does enjoy her company, despite her being just as chaotic as Bokuto and Kuroo, if not more at times.

He’s about to open his mouth to say a civil goodbye to the girl when he feels her arms snake around his waist, small hands planted against the small of his back. He can feel a rumble in his chest as she speaks, her head leaning against the area.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you, Akaashi-senpai,” she says softly.

Eyes rather wide, especially for his usually-collected self, the setter slowly moves his hand up to pat her head. “N-No, none at all. I’m going to miss having you around, [Last Name]-san.”

She looks up at him with a smile, chin on his chest as she tippy-toes to hug him. “I’m gonna miss you, too, Akaashi-senpai. You’re really cool, you know.”

At her flattering words, Akaashi can feel a bit of heat crawl up his neck and face, and he prays that [Name] can’t feel the increasing pace of his heartbeat. He quickly regains himself, however, with a deep breath, and returns her smile as he carefully embraces her. “Thank you, [Last Name]-san. You’re incredibly sweet.”

“Oh, please,” she snorts as she chuckles softly, backing out of the hug in order to dig her phone out of her pocket. “Here. I’ve exchanged numbers with people on every team except Fukurodani. I would ask Bokuto, but he seemed a bit overexcited.”

“I see,” Akaashi chuckles, pulling out his phone to trade for her [F/C] one. He carefully adds his contact before handing it back, receiving his with a new phone number as well, named ‘[Name] :)’. He smiles at her once more as Ukai begins calling her over to the Karasuno bus in the parking lot. “Until next time, [Last Name]-san.”

She begins running off down the steps, waving as she goes. “See ya’, Akaashi-senpai! Oh, and feel free to call me [Name]! Goodbye, everyone!”

And with that over with, Karasuno has to part ways with someone in particular, as well.

“[Name]-san!” Nishonya cries as he clings to her waist. “Do you really have to go back to your basketball team?”

“Yeah, just come to Karasuno and manage for us instead!” Tanaka adds, kneeling before her as he begs. 

She chuckles, ruffling Nishonya’s hair before wrapping an arm around him and resting it on his shoulder. “I have to go back, you silly geese! I love you all, but I miss those boys so much right now, and I wouldn’t give any of them up for the world. Besides, they’re all relying on me to help them win the Winter Cup this year, and it’s not my place to let them down. I have to go.”

“B-B-But [Name]-san!” Nishinoya whines, pressing his face into her stomach as he sobs. “I’m gonna miss you so much!”

Hinata, now that his bag is boarded onto the bus, also approaches her with sorrow pooling in his eyes. “[N-Name]-chan, how long will it be until we see you again…?”

Puckering her lips, [Name] ponders this for a moment. “Well, let’s see… I’ll be gone on back-to-back training camps for the next two months, and then Winter Tournament preliminaries start right after that. And the championship match is currently scheduled to be held in the Tokyo main court on December 18th. So…. You guys can come over to my place for Christmas, if you’d like!”

Seeing as it’s currently July, the entire team doubletakes. “C-Christmas!?”

“That’s an entire six months away, [Name]-san!” Asahi clarifies softly.

Realizing this, Nishinoya and Tanaka begin to bawl hysterically at the girl’s feet, Hinata also falling to his knees in sorrow. [Name] frowns. “I-I’m sorry if that’s really far away from now, but at least it’s not forever, right…? Besides, I got to spend the past month and a half with you all, anyway. I’m sure you need a good long break from me at this point.”

Sighing, Daichi marches forward and pries Nishinoya off of [Name], dropping him on the cement and allowing him to continue to cry there. He smiles sadly down at her before reaching for her hand, shaking it firmly yet gingerly at the same time. “Thank you, [Name]-san. For everything you’ve done for this team. We hope to see you again soon.”

Eyes wide, she smiles softly before pulling her hand away and instead jumping up to hook her arms over his shoulders and pulling the captain down for a hug. “I’d do anything for you guys, Daichi-senpai. Never hesitate to call me if you ever need anything. I’d be more than willing to analyze any of your potential opponents’ film. All you need do is ask.”

Heart racing and face burning up, Daichi carefully returns the hug and nods. “R-Right.”

Seeing as [Name]’s dishing out hugs, now, the majority of the team lines up to receive one before they part ways. Suga ruffles her hair playfully, and although he’s smiling, she can tell he’s sad. “I sure will miss having someone like you around, [Name]-san. Your positivity outweighs negativity goatee over here.”

She giggles as the setter refers to the meek ace standing a couple paces behind him. She hugs the gray-haired boy, resting her head against his chest as he hums, placing his chin on her head. “I’ll miss you too, Suga-senpai.”

“Just ‘Suga’ is fine,” he winks with a rather husky whisper, patting her head one last time and waving before he boards the bus. 

Asahi scratches the nape of his neck, averting his gaze as he approaches [Name]. “U-Um…”

“Come here, you big teddy bear!” she cheers, tugging him down into a headlock and ruffling up his man bun; Asahi laughs and picks her up in the embrace, her feet dangling above the ground as she, too, laughs with him as he twirls her around. “Stay strong, ace; you’re the one who ultimately leads the team to victory.”

Setting her down, he nods, patting her head. “Take care, [Name]-san.”

[Name] quickly moves her way through the second years, seeing as Ennoshita and Narita have to claw Nishinoya and Tanaka off the girl after they refuse to let go, ushering their blubbering bodies onto the bus and keeping them there. Kinnoshita is quickly after them, but not before giving [Name] a quick hug, too. “Have fun at the beach, [Name]-san!”

“Thank you!” she waves as he boards the bus.

Having heard this, Nishinoya ruffles up his hair angrily. “That’s right! She’s going to the beach, Ryu! We have no way of protecting our precious [Name]-san from the perverted beach boys and their vulgar eyes!”

“What do we do, Noya-san!?” Tanaka growls lowly. “We mustn’t let any hooligans approach [Name]-san while she’s in a bikini!”

“I-Imagine [Name]-san in a bikini…” Nishinoya realizes this, the image coming to his head as he bursts into flame and tears. “It’s not fair! I want to see [Name]-san in a bikini! I want to protect [Name]-san from all those bastards she’ll meet on the beach! They’re undeserving of laying their eyes on our darling [Name]-san’s precious skin-...”

“Shut up and get on the bus already, you two!” Ennoshita knocks them over the head.

Amused, [Name] waves to them through the window, seeing as their crying faces press up against it as they continue to call out for her.

Hinata’s next, sniffing as he runs over to her with his arms outstretched. Grinning, she throws her arms wide and waits for him to reach her, falling as he tackles her to the ground for what feels like the nth time over the past week. “Don’t go, [Name]-chan! There’s no one else to protect me from Kageyama!”

“Oi!” the ravenette picks up on the comment from where he’s packing his bag onto the bus.

Amused, [Name] snorts and begins raking her fingers through his hair as he lays on top of her. “Don’t worry, Hina-chan. I know it’ll feel like I’m gone for a long time, but I promise we’ll see each other again soon enough.”

“But six months is way too long!” Hinata exclaims, his eyes squinted shut in order to keep his tears from falling.

Sighing, she bites her lip as she continues to sift her fingers through his fiery locks. “How about this, Hina-chan? The Spring Tournament preliminaries begin in August, right? And the qualifiers are in October, correct? I promise I’ll make it to see you in the finals, but it’s on you and your team to make it that far.”

Hinata’s eyes widen, gleaming with hope and determination. “Of course we’ll make it to the qualifying match! We’re going all the way to Nationals! Just you wait, [Name]-chan!”

“I know you can do it,” she agrees with a comforting smile, reaching up with a second hand to comb her fingers through his tresses. “Hina-chan, has anyone ever told you that you have such amazingly soft hair?”

The boy blushes from the sudden comment, looking down at her as she continues to rub his scalp, her fingertips soothing to the touch. “N-N-No… I-I’m g-glad you like my hair, [N-Name]-chan…”

“I’ve never seen ginger hair quite as bright as yours…” she admits softly with a sigh, letting her hands fall from where she had been massaging his scalp. “It’s just so fiery; I can’t help but enjoy it. The color suits your undeniable presence and outgoing personality. In any case, I can’t hold you back any longer. You ought to get on the bus.”

Frowning, Hinata helps her stand back up and hugs her one last time, just about the same height as her. “I’m really gonna miss you, [Name]-chan.”

She beams. “Call me anytime you want, all right? I’ll be busy, but I promise I’ll do my best to answer.”

Blushing again, Hinata grins back with a nod. “R-Right! Bye, [Name]-chan!”

“Bye-bye!” she waves as the decoy hops onto the bus, glancing back at her one last time before heading to a seat. The girl then turns to Kageyama, hands stuffed in his pockets and gaze turned away from her. She smirks. “Is it your turn to leave without saying goodbye?”

His brows furrow as his face flushes in anger, remembering how she just up and left without planning on telling anyone at the last training camp they attended. He doesn’t retaliate, though, sighing in annoyance as he looks down at her. “I couldn’t care less, at this point. It doesn’t matter if the next time I see you again is tomorrow or Christmas. J-Just-...”

A bit saddened by his comment, [Name] folds her arms and raises a brow. “Just what?”

Stubborn and embarrassed, Kageyama looks away. “...Just make sure it isn’t that last time we see you, o-okay?”

Amused, she promises. “‘Kay!”

Glad he got something off of his chest, he gazes back down at her again. “And you promise you’ll come to the championship match in October?”

Her smirk is subtle. “Only if you guys make it that far.”

He chops her playfully over the head. “Don’t say things like that! Of course we will! Have faith in us! In me!”

“I have all the faith in you and your team, Tobio,” [Name] giggles as she pries his hand off her head, which had been ruffling her hair. He watches her smile fade from one of amusement to a subtle sadness as she stares at his much larger hand clutched within her fingers. “I know you aren’t a fan of physical displays of affection, so… See ya’, Tobio. Good luck in preliminaries. I know you’ll do well…”

Recognizing her disappointment, looking down at her shoes as she says this, Kageyama fights off his pride and sighs, reaching out and firmly grabbing the top of [Name]’s head. Before she can question his intentions, he shoves her face into his chest, not allowing himself to look her in the eye. In fact, he doesn’t look down at her at all. Understanding, [Name] smiles and leans her head into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his waist. Kageyama briefly considers returning the hug, but instead opts to keep his hand on the back of her head, his fingers sifting through her silken locks as he holds her head against his chest. And this is enough for her.

“Goodbye, Tobio,” she nods to him as he boards the bus.

“See ya’…”

All that leaves is two more first years. [Name] turns to face Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, the only one smiling at her being the latter. She approaches them, smirking at the former. “Too proud to even say goodbye to me, Tsukki? I can’t lie, that hurts a bit.”

“Stop teasing, [Last Name]-san,” the blond groans with disinterest. 

Frowning, she decides it’s no use to push someone into liking her; therefore, [Name] moves onto Yamaguchi, throwing her arms around him happily. “Take care of Saltishima Rex for me, won’t you, Yama-san?”

His freckles stand out tremendously against the red hue of his face, eyes wide as he giggles at the nickname, tightly hugging her in return. “Sure, [Name]-san!”

Aggravated, Tsukishima grabs her shirt collar and shakes her roughly, getting up in her smirking face, his warm breath fanning across the tip of her nose as he speaks in a low and taunting whisper. “What the hell did you just call me?”

Feigning innocence, [Name] merely pats his head. “I’ll miss you, too, Tsukki!”

Just as Tsukishima’s about to retort, Ukai barks. “Oi, let her go and get on the damn bus already! We’re leaving soon!”

Sighing, Tsukishima rolls his eyes and drops [Name] back on her feet. Fixing his glasses, he doesn’t even glance at her as he pats her head softly, speaking lowly as he brushes past her. “Don’t do anything stupid for the six months that you’re gone, pipsqueak.”

Eyes wide at the pet name, she grins at him as he gets on the bus after Yamaguchi. “As if I’ve ever done anything stupid.”

Hearing this, the middle blocker shakes his head and chuckles under his breath; no one notices his amusement aside from [Name], a sense of pride swelling through her chest as she had successfully gotten the salty blond to laugh. As the last two first years board the bus, [Name] turns to see the two managers approaching as well. She immediately tackles the younger one into a bear hug, picking her up from the ground slightly into the embrace.

"Take care of yourself, Hitoka-chan!" she grins as she finally sets the girl down.

"R-Right, [N-N-Name]-san. Y-You too..." Yachi can barely recollect herself, a stuttering and blubbering mess as [Name] takes her by the hands and smiles softly. "Y-You really won't be back until December...?"

"Afraid not," the girl confirms, giving the blonde's hands a gentle and reassuring squeeze. Yachi's eyes meet [Name]'s gorgeous grin, eyes gleaming and skin glowing as she basks in the sunset. "But feel free to call me anytime, hun."

Unaware of the damage she'd just dealt, [Name] moves on to part with Kiyoko, leaving Yachi to completely short circuit over the little pet name given to her as well as the sly wink she had sent her way. Kiyoko smiles knowingly as [Name] approaches her, holding her arms out. The foreign student doesn't hesitate to return the embrace, leaning her chin into the manager's shoulder. She places her palms right on the small of Kiyoko's back and hums.

"Here we are again," she jokes softly.

"Our time together is always so brief," Kiyoko agrees, barely speaking in a whisper. 

"Too brief."

Kiyoko laughs at this, pulling back from the hug but keeping her arms wrapped around [Name]'s waist, the lower half of their torsos still pressed together. The latter slowly slides her hands up Kiyoko's back and to her shoulders, taking a pause before then running them down her arms and planting them softly above her elbows. Her smile is so soothing; Kiyoko can't help but stare at her lips, eyes half lidded. 

"I really miss you when you're not around, [Name]-chan..." she admits breathlessly. 

"Me too," her smile is still so gentle. 

With a sigh, Kiyoko gingerly tucks a stray lock of hair behind [Name]'s ear, hand falling from her jaw and resting on her shoulder, still nestled in [Name]'s hair. She smiles a bit brighter, sapphire eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "Six months is a long time... Keep in touch, [Name]-chan."

They withdraw from one another slowly and lovingly, the third-year manager moving on to recollect Yachi (still in the process of comprehending her own shock) and board the bus. [Name] watches her the entire way, her smile never wavering. "Of course, Kiyoko-chan."

Giving Ukai a quick fist bump and briefly hugging Takeda, [Name] stands and waves as the bus pulls out of the parking lot, watching as it turns onto the street. As it goes, all the boys open their windows and wave and yell at her all the way until they’re out of sight. Kiyoko and Yachi stay seated, but wave nonetheless. Smiling sadly, [Name] sighs and drops her arm back down to her side. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she turns and marches towards her car, ready to finally return to her basketball heads again. 

Meanwhile, on the bus, the boys chat about practices back home. Ukai grins at this, folding his arms and standing at the front of the aisle. “Home? What’re you shitheads talking about? This trip isn’t over yet.”

Daichi arches a brow. “I-It’s not? But-...”

“Sensei and I already contacted all of your parents in order to get their permission to extend the trip into the weekend,” the coach begins to explain, his smirk widening as he looks over them all mischievously. “After speaking with the Nekoma and Fukurodani coaches, we’ve all agreed to bring our three teams on a brief extension...”

And back at Shinzen, Kuroo and Bokuto watch with smirks as [Name]’s car pulls out of the parking lot, heading in the same direction as the Karasuno bus, the windows down as she blasts summer vibing music. The Fukurodani captain sighs. “You actually managed to convince our coaches, huh?”

Kuroo’s catlike eyes follow the black car until it’s out of sight. “Naturally. Karasuno’s close enough with her; I want to learn more about [Last Name][Name], too. Besides, a beach trip sounds pretty nice, right now, wouldn’t you say?”

“You aren’t wrong,” Bokuto stretches as he turns to head back inside. “It just sucks that I can’t hear how powerful my spikes are against the floor when I play in the sand…”

“You really are simpleminded, you know that?”

“Am not, dumbass! You’re the simpleton here!”


	24. Surprise

The next morning, the bus drops off the entire Seirin team at the beach, where they file off with their packed bags one-by-one. Yawning, Hyuga rubs his eyes and basks in the warm sunlight above. “Riko, didn’t you say that [Name]-san would be meeting us here?”

“Oh, yes!” Riko remembers this quickly. “She should be in the guesthouse lobby-...”

“Hey, what do you think’s going on over there?” Kiyoshi hums, pointing at a mob of guys in the parking lot of the hotel they’re booked to stay at, which is directly on the beach. “What do you think all the fuss is about?”

Upon closer inspection, the team notices that all the boys in their swim trunks surround a small black sedan, a car which is very familiar to them. The basketball boys all become a bit irked when they find [Name] sitting on the hood, dressed in an olive cropped tank top and a pair of denim shorts, flip flops hanging from her toes, nails painted white in color. And even as all the boys are trying to come onto her, she only sits there and smiles politely, too oblivious to shoo them away.

Therefore, Kagami and Izuki do it for her, growling as they begin shoving the dudes away. Upon the yelling and commotion, [Name] turns to see what the cause of the chaos is, grinning when she recognizes her saviors. 

“Taiga! Izu-chan!” She leaps off the hood of the car, ignoring the flirtatious group of boys she had just been conversing with in order to tackle the two onto the scalding cement. “I missed you guys so much!”

The former narrows his eyes at her, laying on top of them both. “The fuck? Why do you have a black eye!? Which one of these fuckers gave it to you, point them out-...!”

“It’s not like that, Taiga,” [Name] shushes him in amusement. “Remember Kageyama Tobio? He backhanded me about a week ago.”

“....That bastard!-...”

“Calm down, Taiga!” [Name] scolds him, playfully whacking him over the head. “It was an accident and he already apologized! No big deal.”

As Kagami shoves her off angrily, red in the face as he stands up and begins telling the beach dudes off for messing with his manager, Izuki greedily hugs the girl all to himself. “Aw, you missed me, [Nickname]-chan!? I missed you, too!”

[Name] giggles as they stand, the crowd begrudgingly dispersing thanks to Kagami’s intimidating height and scowl. And eventually, the rest of the team joins them, all greeting their manager after her being gone with Karasuno for so long. “Riko-chan!”

“[Name]-chan!” the coach and manager hug it out cutely, as two adorable girls would.

“Jun-senpai!” [Name] jumps up to embrace the captain, hanging from his neck lazily with her weight causing him to double over a bit. “Could you manage to keep everyone in check while I was away?”

“Naturally,” he rolls his eyes smugly before ruffling up her hair. 

“Rin-senpai, you got a haircut!” she gasps, in which the mute boy kneels down in order for her to run her fingers through his black tresses. “I like it! It’s very clean!”

“[Name]-chan! Don’t forget about me!” Koganei whines, tickling her waist from behind and causing her to burst out laughing. 

“Stop it, Koga-senpai!” she snorts, turning around and shoving him away playfully.

“Aw, I missed hearing you call me that!” he swoons sarcastically. 

Rolling her eyes, [Name] faces the first years with a grin, performing her secret handshake with each of them cheerfully. Then she jumps up and high fives Tsuchida. “How’s your lady friend, Tsuchi-senpai? Did you hang out a lot over break?”

He flushes a bit, scratching the back of his neck. “O-Oh, yeah! I made sure to spend as much time with her as I could before our training camp!”

“Aw, so cute!” [Name] squeals before glancing behind the upperclassman, gasping at the head of blue hair she spots. “Tetsu-chan!”

Her voice enunciates the name with such melody, bolting towards Kuroko and nearly tackling him to the ground; however, the two of them manage to maintain their balance while within each other’s arms. “[Nickname]-chan. It’s good to see you again.”

She pouts playfully as she pinches his cheek. “You could say that with a bit more enthusiasm, you know…”

His smile is subtle, but clearly displays his amusement as he let’s her go; he really did miss having her around. She’s the only one who really ever notices him, after all. It felt a bit empty without her, seeing as no one would see him upon entering a room. “Sorry.”

Grinning, [Name] whips around and points at Kagami, her furrowed brows adding a mad look to her smile. “Taiga! Don’t you dare try to run away from me, moron! I’m giving you a hug and you’re gonna like it!”

“Get away from me, [Name]!” he growls, dodging her attempts to grab him with somewhat ease. “Only a month without seeing your stupid face is not enough!”

[Name] gasps dramatically. “Take that back!”

The redhead scoffs playfully. “In your dreams!”

“That’s it!” [Name] grins, pouncing onto Kagami and straddling him on the ground, lightly punching his sides. “This is what you get for being such an asshole, Kagemoron!”

“Stop it, [Name]!” he laughs as she tickles him, grabbing her around her waist and throwing her off, only for her to quickly jump right back on and ruffle his hair. “Fine, fine! I give! I’m sorry!”

“That’s what I thought!” she smirks pridefully as she stands, offering Kagami a hand to get back. Right as he takes it, however, she gasps and accidentally drops him. “You brought Nigou with you!? Come here, cutie! I missed you so much!”

Kagami deadpans from where he lay on the ground after she dropped him, sighing as he watches her crouch down and rub the puppy’s stomach, the dog panting happily in excitement. A small smile creeps to his face as he sees the amount of pure happiness radiating from [Name] in this moment; he’d never admit it out loud, but he missed having her positivity around.

Riko smiles, standing over the manager. “So, [Name]-chan, did you manage to get them set up?”

Eyes wide, she stands back up straight, beaming as she points towards the beach. “Oh, yeah! Just as you requested.”

Following her gesture, the basketball team all look at the two basketball hoops standing on the shore, white lines painted onto the sand to act as a court. Izuki arches a brow in confusion. “The hell? Don’t tell me we’re-...”

“We’re going to play basketball in the sand!” Riko announces with a cruel smirk, kicking off her sandals as she steps into the sand. “Imagine the team as an equation. If the individual numbers are low, they will never be able to add up to something great. We’ve got the teamwork thing down. What Seirin needs now is to improve the skills of each individual player.”

“But don’t get the wrong idea,” [Name] warns as she joins Riko on the beach, opting not to kick off her own leather sandals. “We’re not aiming to create a team of individual strengths, here. As your coach said, we’ve already got the teamwork thing down. So by increasing each one of your individual powers, we can combine them to make an overall more powerful team. Like parts of a well-oiled machine.”

“Seirin wins as a team,” Riko nods in agreement. “Shooting, passing, dribbling… In order to improve all of your skills, we have to start at your foundation; your legs and hips. That’s why we’re practicing on the beach.”

Kagami stomps his foot into the sand. “This damn sand is gonna make us twice as exhausted…”

Hearing this, [Name] smiles innocently, the sun beaming over her head in an angelic lighting as she states, “we’ll begin day one with triple the amount of normal practice.”

“Let’s get this training camp from hell started!” Riko grins evilly at the fear in the boy’s faces, removing her shirt to reveal a simple black bikini top, the pink whistle dangling around her neck. “Hurry up and get your bags checked in so that we can begin!”

Once everyone’s checked into the hotel, they return to the homemade beach court v set up for them anxiously and full of fear. The manager and the coach await them slyly, appointing them to teams divided by shirts vs. skins. While Riko stands in her simple black bikini, [Name] has also shed her clothing to reveal the small neon orange bikini she had been wearing underneath. It isn’t small as in regarding the fit; it fits her athletic body perfectly. The width of the cups on the top, however, make her breasts seem a bit larger than they are. Someone like Momoi certainly wouldn’t be able to pull it off. And the bottoms are rather cheeky, revealing parts of the tan lines she’s earned over the summer. Any boys nearby on the beach aren’t afraid to ogle at the girl’s skin, showing off her toned abs and shiny silver belly button piercing. 

Into the game, the boys learn rather early that they can’t move very quickly or maintain a steady balance while playing in the sand. And Kuroko, wearing his pair of maroon swim trunks, learns he can’t bounce his passes on the terrain, either, after a scolding from Hyuga, dressed in dark green. Equally, Kagami, in black trunks, learns he can’t dunk, not being capable of jumping as high while on the beach.

“Is dunking the only thing you can do, moron?” Izuki pants, also wearing black, out of breath and doubled over, pulling a chuckle from [Name] on the sidelines. 

Said manager is being very diligent with water, today. They’ll need thrice as much as they usually do during practice, seeing as they’re working as hard as they are in the overbearing heat of the sun. After ensuring they’ll be definitely hydrated for the next few hours or so, jugs of water lined up with bottles by the court, [Name] decides to branch off and get her own workout going in the hot and sweaty weather.

As the boys stop for a water break, gulping down the cool liquid greedily, they glance over to see her doing enhanced crunches on the side of a two meter wall covered in graffiti. She must’ve jumped up in order to drape her legs over the top and hang from it upside down, curling her body upward to raise her head above the wall with each rep. They can see her tan abs, glistening with sweat, flex with each crunch upwards and relax on the way back down.

Riko’s quick to catch them ogling. “Oi! Don’t get distracted! I’m well aware [Name]-chan’s hot, but you all have more important things to work towards right now!”

Jumping at her barking tone, the basketball boys quickly flush a deeper red than they already gained from the heat and avert their gaze from the manager’s workout. As soon as they do just this, however, setting their waters back down and preparing to get back to the practice match, the sound of her name being called by an unfamiliar voice perks their ears.

“[Name]-san!” the girl hangs upside-down at the sound of her name being called, the giddy tone one she can easily remember.

“Noya-senpai…?” she breathes out, a bit tired from the current exercise she’d been doing. And she watches, her field of view upside-down, as the lovable libero runs towards her, sand flying with each step he takes.

He slides to a stop before her, gawking at her as she hangs upside-down on the wall before him, exposing a whole lot of her [complexion] skin. “Whoa, that bikini looks really good on you!”

“Oh, thank you!” [Name] accepts the compliment with a giggle, her hair dangling lightly below her. From where her knees hook over the top of the wall, her face is just about the same height as Nishinoya’s eye level, his face slightly red and eyes wide. “That’s right… Orange is your favorite color, isn’t it, Noya-senpai?”

His face flushing even deeper after hearing this, the second year is left speechless; the fact that the girl before him spent the effort to remember something as trivial as his favorite color baffled him. And even if he could find any words to say without becoming a stuttering mess, someone else beats him to the punch.

“[Name]-san!” Tanaka and Hinata come skipping over, their voices sing-song like. 

“Damn, you look good!” the former grins flirtatiously, looking her over in approval. 

“Yeah, the beach is definitely where you belong!” Hinata compliments her in his own, less-forward approach. “Summer definitely suits you!”

“Aw, thank you, Hina-chan! Though, while I do love summer, I think I thrive the most in the fall,” [Name] admits as she flips down from the wall with a soft grunt. “In any case, what’re you three doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be back in Miyagi by now, preparing for the tournament?”

“Well, we were…” Tanaka begins, hands on his hips. “But-...”

“But we extended the training camp to the same beach you’re at for two more days!” Hinata blurts out in excitement, simmering from ear-to-ear. “Isn’t that so exciting!?”

“Extending the training camp…?” [Name] repeats softly, trying to comprehend this information. “Keishin-kun never told me this… And it’s just you guys here? None of the other teams are coming?”

“Oh, no, Coach said it was like a joint-group extension or something like that,” Nishinoya breaks out of his stupor. “Shinzen and Ubugawa’s have some practice matches scheduled for the next couple of weeks, so they can’t risk going out of town anymore.”

“Yeah, Nekoma and Fukurodani are here, too!” Hinata squeals, jumping for joy. “Oh, well, not right now. They left after us. I think this morning…”

“Yeah, well we got lost, too! I’m surprised we made it before either of them did!” Tanaka snorts. “Take-chan may be a smart teacher, but I think he becomes more and more directionally challenged under stress.”

Sighing, [Name] shakes her head as she peers over at the Karasuno bus parked in the parking lot, the boys all filing out and gathering their bags. “You’re staying in the same guest house as us, huh? All right; I need to know who snooped and snitched. Which one of you all recommended a trip to the beach to the coaches? The one I’m specifically at?”

Nishinoya pouts. “We didn’t know about the beach trip until yesterday on the bus! Besides, I thought you’d be happy to see us for at least two more days before we actually have to part ways until Christmas…”

“It’s not that I’m not happy to see you, Noya-senpai,” [Name]’s eyes are soft and kind towards him, before her cold glare lands on Ukai as he hops off the bus, stretching his back and yawning. “I just wanna know why Keishin-kun decided not to tell me before I gave you all long-winded and heartfelt goodbyes that I’d be seeing you all again the next morning.”

Even from afar, the Seirin team recognizes [Name]’s fiery aura as her cold eyes lock onto the blond coach, expression void of much emotion. The three volleyball dorks also take a step back in order to give her the space she requires, way out of her way as she begins stalking over to the bus. A couple Karasuno players try to greet her happily, only to also recognize the spark of irritation in her eyes. Feeling a creeping fear crawl up his spine, Ukai turns to find [Name] standing right behind him.

“Oh, [Name]-san! Surprise-...!”

Before the coach can even finish, he receives a swift slap across the face; Kagami cringes from afar, being reminded of the stinging pain he had felt when she had slapped him at the Shutoku game. He silently prays for this unfamiliar man’s speedy recovery. 

“Ow, [Name]-san, the hell was that for!?”

“What the fuck do you think you’re trying to pull, Keishin-kun!?” she spits back, hands on her nearly bare hips. “Don’t you think it’s a bit cruel to put all of your players as well as me through such agonizing ‘goodbyes’ yesterday only to show up at the same beach I’m at the very next day!? We all thought it would be months before we could see each other again! I poured my heart out into those goodbyes! I took them seriously! You know how hard they are for me, Keishin-kun! I don’t want to go through them again…”

As [Name]’s voice cracks at the very end, her eyes not quite watering yet, Ukai looks down at her with wide eyes, the left side of his face plastered with her throbbing handprint. Seeing as everyone’s eyes are on her - both the basketball heads and the volleyball dorks - Ukai opts to usher her to the other side of the bus for a more private conversation. Meanwhile, Kagami ambles over, casually palming a basketball, leaning it against his shoulder as he cocks a brow at one of the Karasuno students in particular.

“Oi, Kageyama, right?” the ravenette glances at him in surprise, but slowly nods in confirmation. He regrets this, however, when Kagami’s aura grows dangerously threatening, as if a tantalizing fire were swirling around him, daring anyone to test his patience. “So, you’re the one who gave [Name] that black eye, eh?”

“This guy? You think you’re all that, huh?” Izuki adds, standing beside the furious ace with his brows crossed and silver eyes glinting. “Who do you think you are, huh? Laying your filthy hands on our precious manager?”

“Yeah, only my hands are allowed to make contact with [Name]-chan’s sacred flesh,” Koga adds proudly, wearing yellow swim shorts, bare chest puffed out as he folds his arms and sticks his chin upwards.

“You absolute pervert, Koga!” Izuki roars, tackling his fellow second year to the ground as he scolds him while wrestling in the sand. “You’ve come this close to stepping over the line too many times! Disrespectful!”

Leaving the playful fight between two perverts for Mitobe - in dark purple trunks - to handle, Kagami continues to force his intimidation factor on Kageyama, stepping towards him and looking down on him with his height advantage, being an entire ten centimeters taller than the setter. Not even Tsukishima, the tallest player on Karasuno, is quite as tall as Kagami Taiga. 

Kageyama does his best not to shrink back under his glare, but ultimately does a poor job at it, face screaming guilt and concern as the redhead eyes him. “I won’t hurt you, yet, ‘cuz I know [Name] likes you. Besides, she told me it was an accident, but I want a better explanation than that. You better have a damn good excuse to bang her up that bad.”

Gulping, Kageyama looks away stubbornly, still feeling guilty as he folds his arms. “Me and that short idiot over there got into a fight during a practice session we were doing with [Name]. It got a bit out of hand, admittedly, and she tried to get in between us to break it up. I-I didn’t see her come up behind me, and my hand slipped from the hold I had on Hinata and ended up hitting her in the head. As soon as I figured out, I ran to get her help. I-I tried to apologize, but she wouldn’t let me-...”

“Sounds like our idiot manager,” Hyuga sighs, approaching as he wipes some sand from his glasses. “Ultimately, it was her fault for getting involved on her own in the first place. No need to blame yourself for that.”

“C-Captain!” Kagami roars in outrage. “Don’t act as if she deserved to get hit!”

Hyuga only shrugs. “I think the dumbass deserves to get bopped over the head every once in a while. Knock some sense into her, you know? I do it all the time.”

Growling, Kagami grabs Kageyama’s t-shirt collar, much to the setter’s terror. “How about I knock some sense into him, then, huh? Teach him to be more aware of his surroundings next time-...”

Before he knows it, Kagami is kicked face-first into the sand, [Name] standing over him smugly, not at all expressing the same somber demeanor as before. “Maybe you should be paying more attention to your surroundings, Kagemoron; the only one who needs to have their sense knocked back into them is you. But, as I always say, violence is never the answer!”

“But you just shoved me into the ground!” Kagami retorts, spitting out sand.

“You have never once said that, [Nickname]-chan,” Kuroko adds behind her. 

“Stop arguing with me!” she chirps in a sing-song voice, grabbing Kuroko’s blue tresses and ruffling them up roughly. “In any case, I have ultimately forgiven you lot for showing up here without prior notice. Your nutcase for a coach has informed me you will be leaving very early Monday morning, so the deal is that when you leave, I will wave you all off, but no individual goodbyes again! Just remember the ones from yesterday and deal with it, ‘kay?”

Although her smile is sweet, there’s an underlying sense of threat behind it. They all glance at Ukai standing behind her, a couple new spots on his face tattooed red by the wrath of her flat palms. Deciding it’s best not to test her, they all nod in agreement without much hesitation. 

[Name] claps, satisfied with this response. “Brilliant! Now, get settled into the hotel or whatever. I’ll have a beach volleyball court set up nearby.”

“You can just have that done today?” Asahi deadpans.

“We’ve learned not to question it,” Hyuga sighs with a shrug.

Suddenly, the manager gasps, looking back and forth between Seirin and Karasuno at neck breaking speed. All from before has been forgotten in an instant, her eyes twinkling. “OH FUCK, YOU ALL FINALLY GET TO MEET EACH OTHER, HOW EXCITING! THE CONNECTIONS YOU ALL WILL MAKE ARE GOING TO BE UNBREAKABLE! I’VE BEEN DREAMING OF THIS MOMENT FOR MONTHS.”

“[Name]-chan, I think you have a problem,” Koga teases, amused by her enthusiasm. 

“Says you, Koga-senpai!” [Name] grins mischievously, snatching him by the wrist and shoving him in front of Nishinoya and Tanaka. “You three should all get along well, seeing as you all have a ‘senpai-kohai’ kink for me!”

As the three choke on the very oxygen they breathe, faces imploding by the words that slip past her chapped lips so nonchalantly, [Name] then grabs Daichi’s hand and wheels him over to Hyuga. “And, of course, the captains! Both of you are super supportive and reliable while simultaneously being the two most terrifying people I know!”

The two captains, about to formally shake hands with one another, both sweat drop as they look down at her, smiling up at them innocently. “Most terrifying…?”

“Mingle, mingle! My two worlds have finally collided!” [Name] cheers happily, giddily hyping herself up. “Oh, Keishin-kun, this is Aida Riko, the coach of our team. She’s the second year girl I’ve been telling you about; the one who has similar eyes to my lowest tier golds.”

“Whoa!” Ukai gawks, approaching Riko with a grin as he holds out his hand to her; Riko seems a bit intimidated by the reckless looking man, at first, but tentatively shakes his outstretched hand. “That’s incredible! So you can just look at people and see stats about all of their physical abilities and stuff, like [Name]-san does!? Amazing!”

Meanwhile, Kuroko goes overlooked, eavesdropping on the little conversation. His eyes linger on [Name]’s smile. Three words she had just said repeat over and over within his mind, unable to be stored elsewhere for later recollection. Processing them, he concludes his prediction is correct; [Last Name][Name] has multiple powers beyond her omnipotent eyesight. 

‘Lowest Tier Golds....’

After Seirin and Karasuno quickly become acquainted, the former returns to their match in the sand as the latter gets settled into the hotel. And half an hour or so later, Karasuno comes back out to the beach, changed into their swim trunks, to find [Name] helping some buff looking surfer dudes set up a sand volleyball court not too far from the basketball one. Or, rather, the buff surfer dudes are helping her. They seemed rather keen when she waved them over with her radiant smile. 

Finishing up, [Name] claps her hands together, dusting some sand off of her palms as she thanks the boys. They seem rather upset, most likely expecting something in return from her, but jog back off to the water, nonetheless. Meanwhile, [Name] turns to face the Karasuno boys, grinning when she sees them coming towards shore.

“Ah, you guys have finally settled into the hotel! And you’ve changed into beach attire, I see,” [Name] teasingly looks them all up and down. “Perfect! We can all take turns using the court, but you all are welcome to use any of Seirin’s personal setups on the beach! Our coolers are right over by the basketball court and any umbrella that’s red and yellow down by the shore are ours! So you can chill out there, go play in the water, whatever you want.”

Nishinoya and Tanaka grin after hearing this, jumping for joy in the sand. “Sweet! Thanks, [Name]-san!”

“No problem,” she giggles innocently in return.

Hinata jumps forwards next, grabbing her wrist in his red swim trunks. “[Name]-chan, do you want to play in a match with us?”

Pondering this a moment, she turns to call for Riko, still coaching over Seirin’s scrimmage. “Oi, Riko-chan? Mind if I play a quick set with these guys?”

Said coach gazes at her over her shoulder, dropping the pink whistle from her mouth. “I don’t have a problem with it. You aren’t really needed until cooldowns.”

“Ouch, okay,” [Name] jokes. “Thanks, coach.”

As Riko smirks playfully, turning her attention back to Seirin, Nishinoya lunges towards [Name], wearing orange swim trunks around his waist. “Look, [Name]-san, we’re matching! Let’s be on the same team!”

She chuckles, ruffling his hair as he stands before her. “I see that, Noya-senpai! You and I both look rather good in orange, don’t we? In any case, I don’t know if it would be fair for us to be on the same team, seeing as we’re both liberos…”

Nishinoya is destroyed at these words, shoulders slumping. “Oh, yeah…”

“Well, first thing’s first, we should probably figure out who all wants to play a set right now,” [Name] puts her hands on her hips, turning to announce it to the rest of Karasuno. “So, who’s in for a quick set?”

Tsukishima is first to yawn in his navy trunks, strolling past and towards the water. “The beach is no place for me to work up a sweat.”

Seeing as his best friend passes up on the offer, Yamaguchi, wearing green trunks, chases after the blond, shooting [Name] an apologetic look as he passes. “Tsukki! Wait up!”

Meanwhile, Hinata’s quick to exclaim he wants to play, as well as Tanaka, who’s wearing a pair of bold pink swim trunks. Kageyama also decides to join, seeing as all he can do with his life is play volleyball; he’s wearing a pair of indigo trunks. Suga decides that two setters will be needed, grinning in his lavender trunks as he announces he’d play. Daichi in black and Asahi in yellow decide to join their fellow third year, bringing the total up to eight. However, the rest of the second years ran off to the water to boogie board while the two managers lay out by an umbrella to catch a tan. Kiyoko is wearing a very nice violet bikini as Yachi wears a black one. Meanwhile, Ukai - in hawaiin patterned orange - and Takeda - in light blue - sit in the sand and sip on beers as they chat. 

Sighing, [Name] shrugs. “Well, a four-on-four will do just fine. How should we split into teams?”

“Well, you and Nishinoya should be on separate teams,” Daichi agrees, smirking at Nishinoya’s pouting. “It’s only fair to split the liberos.”

“I suppose Kageyama and I will also have to be on separate teams, then,” Suga adds with a bittersweet sigh. “That way, each team will have a setter.”

“I’m gonna go ahead and split Hina-chan and Tobio up,” [Name] says mischievously. “I like to mix things up a bit when I play.”

“I’m tired of playing with that dumbass, anyway,” Kageyama grunts, peeving Hinata.

“Asahi and Tanaka, too,” Daichi decides. “That’d be like having two aces.”

Suga claps to gain everyone’s attention. “Here, I’ll split it up. On one team, it should be [Name]-san, Kageyama, Tanaka, and Daichi. The other team will be me, Nishinoya, Asahi, and Hinata. Sound fair?”

“Sounds good to me!” Tanaka grins, restless to finally play. 

“Let’s go!” [Name] and Hinata both cheer, even though they run to opposite sides of the sand volleyball court. The former sets a speaker up nearby, playing some fun beach music.

“Since this is a four-on-four, liberos can serve and score points up front!” Daichi announces from beside [Name], winking at her. “Suga, you guys can serve first.”

Nodding, Asahi takes the first serve, immediately realizing how hard it is to jump in the sand rather than on a solid floor, just as Kagami had while trying to dunk earlier. His serve just barely scrapes over the net, falling short. Kageyama’s the only one close enough to retrieve it, sacrificing his set in order to dive for it. Getting it in the air, [Name] hops over him, calling for the toss. Her eyes trail to Tanaka on the far left, and he nods in response. As he jumps into the air to spike it, she sends him a decent toss; though, not as flashy or fast as Kageyama’s.

Nevertheless, it gets the job done. Tanaka spikes it over the net, only for Nishionya to dive into the sand in order to save it. Suga sets the ball high for Asahi’s spike, which [Name] feels the full force behind as she crouches down to save it. As it ricochets off her forearms, sailing smoothly towards Kageyama, she’s nearly knocked over, her flesh stinging from the sensational hit. 

“Nice receive,” Kageyama calls softly, eyes trained on the ball as he sets it over his head to Daichi, who spikes it right at Hinata. 

The redhead miraculously receives it, even if it doesn’t go straight to the setter. Compensating, Suga hops back and calls for his spiker. “Asahi!”

The ace slams the ball down towards Tanaka, who’s unable to save it in time, the first point going to Suga’s team. [Name] puts her hands on her sculpted hips. “Nice kill!”

Blushing, Asahi scratches his cheek. “T-Thanks.”

Asahi serves again, a bit better this time, and Daichi receives it. Kageyama, after complimenting the pass softly, sends the toss to Tanaka, which Nishinoya receives the spike from. Suga finally tosses to Hinata, who has been getting antsy, whose spike Tanaka receives. Glancing over his options, Kageyama sees [Name] ready behind him, running up to the net. He tosses to her without hesitation, the same quick that he gave her months ago at the training camp before the Inter-High. Licking her lips, [Name]’s eyes gleam gold as she scans the opposing side of the court, ultimately locking in on the far left corner by Hinata. She hits the ball just past Asahi’s block, the spin on it just right to be out of Hinata’s reach and hitting the sand. Not a very powerful spike, but a rather deadly accurate one.

“Nice kill!” Tanaka roars, jumping over to give [Name] a double high five as she laughs.

“Thanks, Tanaka-senpai!” she beams before holding her hands out above her head to Kageyama. “Nice toss!”

“R-Right!” Kageyama realizes her intent, slapping both of her hands with his own.

“All this time and he still doesn’t understand a simple high five,” Suga snickers from across the net, successfully getting Kageyama’s face to burst into flaming embarrassment.

As the game goes on, the score currently 11-9 in [Name]’s team’s favor, the Seirin team watches from afar during their water break. None of them have seen her play volleyball before, after all. They all decide it’s rather satisfying to watch her dive around in the sand while also wearing a bikini.

Though the basketball heads don’t know much about volleyball, they can at the very least tell that [Name]’s phenomenal at it. And from what they can see, it seems this Karasuno team she’s been diligently helping is worthy of her praise; they seem very good, as well. 

The score standing at 17-16, still in the favor of [Name]’s team, Kageyama dives to save a ball, but ultimately can’t reach it in time, leaving the score now tied. He curses softly as he shakes some sand out of his hair, pawing his bangs out from one of his eyes. “Sorry. My hair got in the way a bit, there…”

“No problem, Kageyama,” Daichi assures him.

Meanwhile, [Name] hums, eyes narrowing at the ravenette. Noticing this, he scowls at her. “What’re you staring at, dumbass?”

She ignores the question, jogging over to Riko a couple paces away without a word. “Riko-chan? Do you have any extra hair clips on you, by chance?”

Arching a brow, the coach leans over her abandoned jacket on a nearby bench, sifting through the pocket to pull out an unused pink hair clip, identical to the one in her hair. She hands it to her. “You mean one like this?”

“Yes, that’s perfect, thank you!” [Name] takes it and quickly bows gratefully before skipping back over to the volleyball court. “Come here, Tobio!”

Wiping some sweat from his brow, said setter glances her way, skipping gleefully over to him in her orange bikini. “What is it?”

“I have the solution to all your problems!” she announces, displaying the clip.

At first, Kageyama’s averse to the idea of wearing a pink hair clip, but he’s then reminded of the sweaty locks clinging to his forehead, causing him discomfort. So he gives in without much of a fight, waiting patiently for [Name] to reach him. He’s about to take the clip and thank her, only to lose his words when she steps up to her tippy-toes in order to reach his head. Eyes wide, he watches as she reaches her arms over her head, either one on either side of him, almost as if she’s about to hug him around the neck. Kageyama can feel her slim fingers glazing over his forehead, dragging his bangs up with them. As she collects each strand to the top of his head, he can feel [Name]’s warm breath beating on his left ear. And although it’s scalding beneath the scorching sun, he’s not discomforted by the sensation.

[Name] sifts her fingers through his inky black hair before then pinning his bangs down to his scalp. Finished, she falls back down to her heels, normal height again, in order to examine her work.

Blinking, she covers her mouth with her palm as she gazes up at Kageyama, who arches a brow at her suspiciously. “What is it? What’d you do?”

She shakes her head, denying any mischief. “Nothing, it’s just-.... You look so cute!”

Blushing at her glowing smile, Kageyama brings a hand up to feel his forehead, which is now free of any hair covering it. And although he can’t quite see what he looks like, he assumes it’s rather ridiculous. Upon further inspection, however, he sees that there’s no sarcasm behind [Name]’s sparkling eyes, looking over him joyfully. She truly and honestly thinks that he looks adorable with his hair up like this, opposed to the serious and straightforward appearance he normally projects. 

Unsure of how to feel, Kageyama’s blush only deepens. “Don’t call me cute, moron!”

“Aw, don’t deny it, Tobio!” she giggles. “You look adorable with your bangs clipped!”

Irritated, he ruffles up her hair. “Stop saying that! I’m not cute!”

“Sheesh, can’t you take a compliment, Kageyama?” Hinata rolls his eyes, folding his arms stubbornly. “I’d do anything for [Name]-chan to call me cute…”

“I’m always honored when she says I’m cute!” Nishinoya announces, jabbing a thumb at his bare chest.

[Name] giggles, ignoring the fact Kageyama continues to tease her tresses into unforgiving knots. “I don’t need to call you two cute. You already know that I think you guys are absolutely adorable!”

Completely awestruck and wide-eyed, Nishinoya and Hinata turn to each other, literally sparkling as they cheer and high five one another in celebration. [Name] tilts her head with a smile as Kageyama stops ruffling up her hair, groaning with his hand still on her head. “Are they complete idiots?”

“Yeah, but at least they’re happy idiots,” [Name] teases as she tickles him in the side; he blushes at her placing a hand on his bare torso, pulling his hand away from her head. She giggles at this. “Not a grumpy idiot like you. Don’t you ever smile?”

Kageyama retorts at her laughter, red in the face, before the game quickly resumes. Luckily, when Kageyama lost the point, Nishinoya became next up to serve. And even though [Name] has an impressive service despite being a libero, the Karasuno second year can’t provide the same talent. His serve barely makes the net, to which he lets out a sigh of relief. Kageyama goes to dive for it, seeing as he’s closest, but [Name] stops him in his tracks.

“Leave it to me!” she orders, brows furrowed as she dives into the sand in front of him, despite being far away from her position, and pancaking the ball back up to his setting position. “Got it!”

Eyes wide, he realizes she did that in order to give him the toss. He pries his eyes off her prideful grin in order to set the ball over to Tanaka. “N-Nice receive.”

“Nice kill!” [Name] and Daichi cheer in unison when Tanaka’s spike lands.

Some time later, the score stands 27-26, [Name]’s team just a point ahead. Who knew a quick set on the beach, meant to be lighthearted and fun, would go all the way to a deuce? All eight of them continuously wipe sweat from their brows and allow their shoulders to heave in exhaustion under the heat. However, seeing as Suga’s team just lost the last volley, allowing [Name]’s team to pull ahead, said girl steps up in the rotation to serve. Asahi and Hinata gulp in fear while Nishinoya licks his salty lips eagerly. 

“Nice serve!” Daichi encourages her with a clap.

“Make it a good one!” Tanaka adds with a curt nod from Kageyama beside him.

“Right!” [Name]’s grin radiates happiness; she’s very clearly having fun. At the sight of this, every boy on the sand volleyball and basketball courts feel their hearts skip a beat. It’s truly a sight to behold, to see [Last Name][Name] clearly enjoying herself, not worrying over a single care in the world. “Here goes! I’m coming for you, Noya-senpai!”

Grinning wider at these words, said libero crouches a bit lower. “Bring it on!”

With a small smirk, she tosses the ball high in the air, eyes trained on it the whole way to its acme. Her mischievous optics sparkle in the sunlight when she deems it a good toss for the service. She shuffles into the running steps before jumping up as high as she can while in the sand. Seeing as she doesn’t have a very impressive vertical in the first place, the added hindrance of the sand beneath her feet keeps her from jumping high at all. However, that doesn’t matter. Like a flash of lighting, her arm whips up from her side to straight over her head, perfectly allowing her palm to align with the center of the ball during its descent. 

And she follows through, sending the ball hurtling in an arch over the net, the path lined up directly to Nishinoya, just as she had promised. The libero gladly accepts her challenge, licking his dry lips as he lines his arms up with the ball hurtling towards him. He grunts when it lands against his forearms, sending him off balance. This time, however, he manages to get the ball in the air, just a meter or so off from Suga’s setting position.

“Nice receive, Nishinoya!” Suga praises while Hinata gawks at the cool libero in awe.

Tanaka stands beside Kageyama, waiting patiently for the block, when the wing spiker realizes [Name] shifts to stand beside him. “You’re blocking?”

“I may be no good at physically blocking attacks…” she admits before glancing up at him with a smirk, her eyes glowing gold for only a millisecond in the sunlight. “...but I’m pretty good at reading them. Let’s win this set now!”

Wide eyed, Tanaka and Kageyama turn their attention back to the other side of the net, the latter noticing how Suga is glancing over his shoulder towards Hinata, loudly calling for the toss. He knows Hinata's overwhelming presence all too well. It’s damn near impossible to ignore him when he requests a set from you like that. Therefore, he concludes that Suga will have no choice in the matter. He’ll toss to Hinata.

But as Kageyama begins to dip to the left, about to drag Tanaka with him, he feels a hand wrap around his wrist. Eyes wide, he turns to look at [Name], who’s eyes are trained on Suga before her. “Tossing to Hina-chan is what you’d do in a pinch, Tobio; but Suga is a different setter than you. There’s someone he matches up with just as well as you match up with Hinata.”

Taking in her words, Kageyama watches Asahi come up from the right, determination crossing his mature features. He’s quick to drag Tanaka with him to guard the ace, [Name] also being pulled into the mix as Daichi stands protectively behind them. With a grunt, all three of them jump, extending their arms over the net in hopes to block the powerful shot to come, Suga’s toss to Asahi high. 

With a loud grunt, the manbunned third year slams the ball into their block, ultimately hitting the palm of Tanaka's hand strong enough to break through; however, the block is enough to slow down the momentum.

Tanaka winces at the sting that flares up in his palm. “One touch-...”

Daichi dives to recover the ball from behind, only to realize there isn’t a need to at all. Although [Name] had jumped with the block, she’s a much weaker jumper and blocker than Tanaka and Kageyama. Therefore, in order to compensate, she jumped a bit farther back from the net, her arms outstretched over her head. Being slightly behind Kageyama, she reaches up and flatly slams her palm against the ball, sending it straight downwards back on the other side of the net, no one there to save it in time. 

And just like that, [Name]’s team wins 28-26.


	25. Sunscreen

“That was so cool, [Name]-san!” Tanaka hollers after they finish the set, tackling her into the sand. “Way to go!”

“Wah! [Name]-chan, you’re too good! How’d you do that!?” Hinata also ducks under the net to kneel in the sand beside her., praising her despite having been on the opposing team. “The way you ‘powed’ it straight down like that was awesome!”

“Haha, good game, you guys! It was fun!” [Name] giggles in the sand with them before turning her gaze to Nishinoya a short ways away. Grinning, she scrambles to her feet and bolts towards him, arms over her head as she cheers. “Noya-senpai! You received my serve like it was nothing!”

Eyes wide, he blushes with a jubilant grin as she tackles him into the sand, straddling him with a cute smile. “Yeah, I did! Didn’t I look cool!? Didn’t I!?”

“The coolest!” she agrees, ruffling his hair playfully.

“Then let’s play again!” he suggests. “Another set! I wanna receive some more of your serves!”

“Well-...”

“Oya? Another set? Can we join?”

Looking over her shoulder, [Name]’s eyes widen when she sees Bokuto standing behind her, wearing a pair of blue swim trunks and holding a travel bag over his shoulder with a grin. Smiling herself, [Name] jumps up from on top of Nishinoya and stands before the Fukurodani ace. “Bokkun!”

Said spiker pouts playfully. “The Karasuno guys get hugs from you, but not me? No fair, [Name]-chan…”

Giggling, she jumps up and hooks her arms around his neck, her feet dangling a couple inches from the ground as she hangs from him. “I never say no to a hug, silly!”

“Me either!” Bokuto smugly wraps his free arm around her, oblivious to the glare Nishinoya sends him as he gets back up from the sand. Bokuto sets her down eventually, still smirking. “Glad I get to see you again, [Name]-chan! When you told us you’d be at the beach, Kuroo-kun and I couldn’t resist asking our coaches to extend the trip here! It’ll be so much fun, don’tcha think!?”

“Mm Hmm! I’m glad you’re all here!” [Name] beams, eying as the Nekoma bus pulls up beside the Fukurodani one outside the hotel. “You guys can meet my basketball team, too!”

Bokuto’s eyes shimmer in a childlike manner. “Oh!? That’s right, I forgot you were here with them for a second! You’ve told me so much about them, they seem so cool! I wanna meet the tall, grumpy ace you talked about during the barbecue!”

“Eh?” Kagami, drenched in sweat, arches a brow from behind Bokuto, gaining his and the manager before him’s attention. “Tall, grumpy ace? What’s that shit about, huh, [Name]?”

Completely unintimidated, [Name] blinks before pointing at Kagami. “I forgot to add hotheaded.”

Bokuto snickers as Kagami fumes, proving [Name]’s point as he ruffles up her hair mercilessly. “Idiot! Don’t go talking shit to all your little volleyball friends, dumbass! I could flatten you if I wanted to!”

[Name] giggles, wrenching his hand out of her hair as she smiles at the playful threat, which he’d never follow through with. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call the Bokuto Koutarou ‘little’, Taiga. He’s one of the top four high school volleyball aces in Japan, you know. And our senpai, so be respectful.”

Kagami arches a brow at this, turning to face Bokuto, who folds his arms proudly at the compliment. “Aww, you don’t have to tell him that, [Name]-chan! I’m very humble, you know! It’s not like I’m top three, or anything!”

“That’s because you lost your spot last year,” Akaashi’s monotone voice drifts beside them, and [Name] beams at the setter in navy swim trunks. Bokuto, however, is floored by the comment from his own teammate. “Now you’re fourth.”

“Akaashi-senpai!” [Name] chirps, clinging onto him cheerfully. Kagami’s eyes narrow at the interaction. “It’s good to see you again!”

Sighing, Kagami places a large hand on her shoulder and tugs her off of Akaashi, whose eyes are rather wide as he gazes down at her smile. “Tch, don’t go pouncing on everyone you see at the beach, [Name]. You’ll make ‘em uncomfortable.”

“Aw… I guess you’re right-...”

“Actually, I didn’t mind,” Akaashi states dryly, eyes boring into Kagami’s coldly and devoid of emotion.

Reminded of Kuroko’s blank gaze for a moment, Kagami lets [Name] go, who cheers jubilantly as she once again hooks her arms around Akaashi’s neck, to which he this time smiles softly and rests his hands against the small of her back. “See, Taiga! Not everyone in Japan is as stuck up as you are!”

Not able to stand looking at her cling to the man before him, Kagami looks away stubbornly. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. And who’s this, then? Where’d all these other guys come from? I thought you only helped out at Karasuno.”

“Oh, well, I do, but two other schools from the training camp are here, too. That’s Nekoma’s bus pulling in there, and these two are from Fukurodani,” [Name] explains, pointing to Akaashi, one of her hands still resting on his shoulder as he keeps one arm hooked around her waist. “And this is Akaashi Keiji; he’s Fukurodani’s official setter and vice captain. All as a second year! Isn’t that cool!?”

“Yeah, sure. Very impressive,” Kagami folds his arms, brows furrowed. “And I’m Seirin’s ace as a first year. You know, I’m here, too.”

“Wow!” Bokuto gasps childishly, hazel eyes twinkling. “As a first year!? You must be pretty good, um, what’s your name again…?”

“It’s Ka-...”

Before he can reply, he gasps softly at the feeling of [Name] clinging to his arm. He blushes at the feeling of her bikini top and smooth stomach pressed up against his bicep, eyes wide at the proud smile she shows off. “This is one of my closest friends, Kagami Taiga! He’s one of the best power forwards I’ve ever come across!”

And at these words, Kagami’s left completely speechless, allowing her to introduce him in his place. The whole time she does, pointing at him and speaking about him with a face full of pride. And the redhead just stares at her, cheeks warm and eyes wide, watching her lips move to form words that go in one of his ears and out the other. All he can do is watch her, clutching onto his arm lightly. 

Bokuto is the one to snap him out of it. “Wow, Kagami! That’s really cool! I don’t know too much about basketball, but I at least know the basics, so I think it would be fun to watch you play! Akaashi knows more about basketball than me, though.”

This comment is what finally pries [Name] from Kagami’s arm - much to his dismay - and lures her back towards the pretty setter. “Is that true, Akaashi-senpai? You never told me you were into basketball.”

He glances at her gently. “Well, I can’t play at all, but I do enjoy watching it.”

“You guys should come to one of our games sometime!” [Name] suggests, eyes gleaming. “Seeing as I’m manager, I’m allowed to brag that Seirin’s team is pretty good this year!”

Kagami finally recollects himself, back to his original stubborn nature. “Tch. Pretty good? We’re better than that. We’re going to win the Winter Cup, for sure.”

Akaashi arches a brow, impressed. “The Winter Cup? That’s pretty confident of you.”

Poor Bokuto, however, is a bit clueless. “The Winter Cup? What’s that?”

“It’s the one tournament in Japan that names the best high school basketball team in the country every year,” Akaashi explains to his captain briefly and in terms he can understand. “It’s the one chance the teams who lost the Inter-High get to prove their worth.”

Bokuto nods with a gasp. “So it’s kinda like nationals!”

“Right!” [Name] giggles as Bokuto drapes an arm around her shoulders and slaps Kagami on the back in a friendly manner.

“Well, I believe you guys can do it! [Name]-chan talks you guys up a lot, so you have to be good!” he grins. “Besides, with her as your manager, I’m sure you guys are capable of anything!”

“Please, Bokkun, you don’t have to say all that,” [Name] chuckles bashfully, luckily being saved by a nearby coach of hers. “I’m not all that-...”

“Oi! [Name]-chan!” Riko calls over, gaining their attention. “The boys are about to start cool downs. You’re in charge of this batch!”

“Oh! Right! Be there in a sec!” [Name] calls back before quickly bowing to Bokuto and Akaashi politely. “Excuse me for a moment, but I must get back to my team for the time being. Perhaps afterwards, I can play another set with you guys and Nekoma, yeah?”

“Yeah! Sounds good! See ya, [Name]-chan” Bokuto waves her off before gazing at Kagami. “You sure are lucky to have [Name]-chan as your manager, Kagami-kun. She’s the sweetest girl I think I’ve ever met.”

The redhead scoffs at this comment. “Yeah, you say that now…”

Perplexed, Bokuto questions his action. “What do you mean? Don’t you like her? From what I’ve heard, she sounds like a pretty great manager.”

“Don’t get me wrong. [Name] is the best manager any team could ask for. She’s irreplaceable, and I wouldn’t give her up for the world,” Kagami agrees, not totally aware of the amount of compliments rolling off his tongue as he watches the girl jog over to Riko. “However, when it gets down to it, she’s far from the sweet girl you think she is.”

Before Bokuto could ask him to reiterate, Riko glances over, eyes on Kagami. “Hey, Kagami-kun! Get your ass over here before I make you do triple reps!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” said ace grumbles before jogging over.

Bokuto hums. “I wonder what he meant by all that. Also, [Name]-chan didn’t tell us about a second manager, did she? They’ve got another one, it seems. She’s cute.”

Akaashi rolls his eyes with a yawn. “That isn’t another manager, Bokuto-san. Don’t you remember? [Name]-san told us her coach was a second year girl at their school.”

Bokuto’s eyes widen. “No, I totally missed that part. Man, that’s amazing! They’ve got some pretty cool chics working for their team! Imagine having a girl coach and a manager like [Name]-chan!? That sounds like living the dream-”

Just as Bokuto says this, Akaashi and he stop dead in their tracks, [Name]’s piercing voice cutting through the hot ocean air like a sharp knife. “All right, you lousy lot! Get off your asses and on your feet! You’ve had a long enough break in my book! Time for cool down! We’ll start off easy with a quick mile down the shoreline and back!”

The Seirin boys groan in disdain, despite [Name]s intimidating demeanor behind that sweet smile. Bokuto and Akaashi watch with wide eyes as they group around her, preparing for the torture she’s about to put them through. Now they understand what Kagami meant about her before, and silently agree they’re glad they aren’t being trained by her for the time being. Meanwhile, Ukai, slightly tipsy, glances over at her from behind his sunglasses.

“Oi! All Karasuno shitheads! Go run with the Seirin kids!” he orders, glaring at the groans and retorts he receives. “Don’t forget this is still a training camp, not a vacation! You’ve been resting enough! Now, go, chop chop!”

They do as told, the only ones excited to go on the run being Hinata, Nishinoya, and Kageyama; though, the latter doesn’t really show it. Meanwhile, Bokuto’s small smile slowly grows into a grin at [Name], who’s playfully barking orders at everyone as they begin to line up. He’s always liked coaches who are a bit spartan when it comes to training. It gets him pumped up. And he isn’t the only one.

“Man, she really gets you going, doesn’t she?” Kuroo smirks as he approaches the two Fukurodani regulars, sporting a pair of red trunks. “Makes you wanna get up and do something to improve. Anything to keep up with her.”

“Yeah, bro! I think I’m gonna go run with them!” Bokuto announces, tossing his bag carelessly into the sand and whooping loudly as he runs towards the group. “Whoo!”

“Wait, Bokuto-san-...” Akaashi sighs in defeat, moving the bag, now covered in sand, to a nearby bench. “We were supposed to help unload the rest of the bus and check in…”

“Aw, c’mon, Akaashi-kun,” Kuroo teases, also throwing his bag aside and chasing after Bokuto, slapping the setter’s back on the way. “Live a little for once! We’re at the beach!”

Huffing through his nose, Akaashi shakes his head softly, only to glance at [Name] from afar, who beams at Bokuto when he reaches her and cheers happily about something with him. He smiles smalley at the sight. Maybe going for a run doesn’t sound the worst, at the moment. He’s been cramped up next to a restless Bokuto on the bus for nearly an entire day, now. He could stretch his legs, a bit.

He’s not the only one to think this way, either. Seeing Kuroo run off towards the jogging group, Lev - wearing teal trunks - is quick to follow, excited to finally be moving. Not wanting to be left behind, Akaashi runs after them happily.

Meanwhile, [Name] greets Kuroo happily. “Oya? Kuroo-kun! It’s wonderful to see you again!”

Kuroo’s smug smirk doesn’t go unnoticed when he hugs her tightly; Nishinoya, Tanaka, Kagami, Izuki, and Koga visually huff at him. “You, too, [Name]-chan. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to come and be with you at the beach, could I?”

“No one in their right mind would pass that offer up,” [Name] agrees with a giggle before spotting someone over his shoulder. “Lev! Hey!”

“[Name]-chan!” the half-russian greets happily, throwing his arms wide as she jumps into the hug, the taller male spinning around cheerfully. “Are we going on a run!?”

“Yep! I assume you all are joining us?” she smirks, tying her hair back lazily. “You, too, Akaashi-senpai?”

“I don’t think it would hurt to go on a run,” Akaashi confirms nonchalantly. 

As Lev runs over to Hinata to chat with him happily, Kuroo and Bokuto teasing Tsukishima, Akaashi remains beside [Name], not wanting to deal with the nuisances while on the beach. Meanwhile, the Seirin boys look over the volleyball boys with apologetic stares, fully knowing that not a single one of them understands fully what they’re getting themselves into. They silently pray for their sanity through their first run with [Name].

“All right, everyone! Seeing as we have such a big group, let’s take it at an easy pace, m’kay?” she announces with a clap of her hands. “Here we go, everyone!”

As the volleyball boys prepare for an easy jog, they watch with perplexion as the Seirin boys lower themselves into a lower running position, as sprinters would on a track. Not quite three-point stance, but lower than one should position themself to go on a jog. And as soon as [Name] even takes a step, they begin to jog at a pace close to what would be a sprint, but just a bit slower. Confused at first, the volleyball boys slowly begin to understand when they see [Name]’s long strides in her jog, effortlessly running at a quick pace, even though she deemed it to be ‘easy’ before.

Now they begin to understand what they’re getting themselves into. 

In the back of the group come up Tsukishima, Kinoshita, Kuroko, Fukuda, and Koganei. While the majority of them are actually trying, but unfortunately aren’t very competent in long distance running, Tsukishima simply doesn’t push himself past a moderate jog. Poor Kuroko is simply very unathletic, struggling with his stamina; even now, after he’s gone on countless runs with [Name], who pushes him way beyond his limits. He drags behind with Tsukishima.

The next portion of runners are pushing themselves to try and keep up with [Name]’s pace, even though it’s way beyond what they’re used to. This group includes Asahi, Ennoshita, Tanaka, Narita, and Yamaguchi, who ran with Tsukishima at first, keeping pace with him rather than pushing himself. The bespectacled blond, however, told the freckled boy to go ahead if he could; it isn’t a secret to him that Yamaguchi likes to push himself, especially so around [Name], who inspires him. Therefore, he went ahead.

Next come the pretty avid runners of the volleyball boys, plus the members of Seirin who are used to this extreme of a pace. It’s made up of Suga, Daichi, Kuroo, Hyuga, Izuki, Mitobe, Tsuchida, Furihata, and Kiyoshi. They keep a solid pace just a couple meters behind [Name], still breathing heavy but continuing to push themselves to keep up with her. And just a couple meters ahead of them are the really skilled two of that group, being Kagami and Nishinoya, the former just a couple paces ahead of the latter.

[Name] leads the front of the pack effortlessly, bare feet gliding across the soft sand in her bright bikini, sometimes splashing in a wave that comes up at a higher tide from time to time. Very few can keep up with her even at her more moderate pace. They’d no doubt be left in the dust if she picked up the speed. However, a couple manage to stick with her at the rate she’s going now. These few being Hinata, Lev, Bokuto, Kageyama, and Akaashi. While the first three are just natural freaks of nature, running along beside her energetically and chatting cheerfully, the last two are much more subtle monsters of cardio. Kageyama and Akaashi jog alongside her as if it were the pace they go at every morning, silently and effortlessly. 

Suga and Daichi chuckle to one another between breaths, amused by their pair of first years up front. “Those two will never cease to astound me.”

“That’s insane,” Hyuga admits, running beside them and panting softly. “We’re forced to run with [Name] all the time, and the only person who ever comes close to catching up to her is Kagami. I’ve never seen someone keep up with her like that before.”

Suga and Daichi share an amused glance, the former snorting. “That’s funny. No one was able to keep up with Hinata and Kageyama until [Name]-san came along, either.”

Daichi nods. “If it means anything, you guys seem to have better stamina than the rest of us, excluding our pair of delinquent first years, of course.”

“Well, our basketball team has always been small,” Izuki admits, doing rather well with his breathing. “And all the sport consists of is constantly running up and down the court. To do that with little to no subs… We have to be able to keep up with playing at our best for entire games at a time just to get by.”

“Damn. That must be rough,” Suga admits, just now realizing how difficult that really is. “I don’t think any of us have the lung capacity for all that. Hinata, maybe, but, still…”

Growling, Kagami picks up the pace, panting a bit as he struggles to catch up to the group up front. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t jealous. Sure, he may have never caught up to [Name] before, but at least no one else could, either. He’s always been the one closest to matching with her pace. Now, five of these random volleyball dudes are outrunning him with ease. He had to admit, it’s a bit embarrassing. That fact along with his pride alone pushes him to go faster than he’s ever gone; to try and keep up. He gains another meter on Nishinoya.

“Hinata, you dumbass, you’re kicking sand everywhere!” Kageyama barks over [Name]’s head at the ginger, who’s more so skipping than running.

“Whatever, Bakageyama! Shut up!”

[Name] giggles at the interaction, Kageyama running right along beside her on her right. He gazes down at her. “So, this is your moderate pace? It isn’t much slower than the morning jogs we went on during study sessions.”

She shrugs. “I don’t like pushing myself too hard in the mornings, if I’m being quite honest. I prefer evening workouts over anything. If we ever go on another morning jog back home, I’ll gladly take a faster pace with you if that’s what you want.”

“N-No, this one is just fine! I don’t like pushing myself too hard early in the mornings, either!” Kageyama quickly lies through his teeth, not wanting to risk her picking the pace of a jog in the future that he may not be able to keep up with. “Besides, I like talking to you while we jog…”

Barely realizing what he said, Kageyama flushes deeply as he glances over to see her reaction. She beams at him, genuine happiness crossing her features. “I like talking to you, too, Tobio.”

She looks back ahead, her [H/L] hair bouncing and fluttering over her shoulders with each step she takes. Kageyama continues to watch her in wonder, and he’s not the only one. While Lev is rattling off stories about the busride over to the beach, Hinata tunes him out, his eyes trained on [Name], Bokuto and Akaashi running between him and her. Kageyama is the only one on her right side, while Akaashi jogs on her left. The ginger quickly averts his gaze, however, when he notices what little support her bikini gives her while running. 

“Isn’t this great, Akaashi!? For the first time ever, it’s not just us ahead of the group!” Bokuto exclaims, pumping his fists in the air.

“Be grateful I even keep up with you in the first place, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi sighs. 

[Name] giggles at this. “You guys really are great. The only person who was ever able to keep up with me was my brother. And, well, he’s not exactly here to workout with me, anymore…”

Hearing this, even all the way in the back, Kuroko’s brows furrow. He huffs through his nose softly, remembering how sensitive [Name]’s relationship with her brother is, and how fragile she is while talking about him. She hasn’t brought him up since when he found her in the locker rooms after the Touou match. He stares at her longingly as she glances out over the sea with a sad smile.

No wonder Kuroko never noticed anything was wrong before he found her crying two months ago; she does so well to hide it. When she turns her gaze back to Akaashi, wearing one of her most radiant smiles, the only reason Kuroko can sense her despair is that he already knew it existed beforehand.

“But no matter! Tobio became my running buddy awhile back, and Hina-chan has always been able to keep up, too!” she chirps. “And now you guys!”

Somewhat jealous of all the praise [Name]’s giving these boys he doesn’t even know, Kagami growls lowly and picks up the speed even more, struggling to conceal his heavy pants as he begins to run beside Kageyama. Said setter side eyes him. “Oh. When did you get there?”

“Shut up,” Kagami breathes out, embarrassed that he probably won’t be able to hold a conversation at this high intensity of a run.

“Be nice, Taiga. I promise, he doesn’t bite,” [Name] jokes, earning a glare from the redhead; she ignores it, however, checking the smart watch on her wrist. “Ah! Only 400 meters to go, everyone! Then we’ll stop to take a break before running the second mile back!”

After those 400 meters are complete, [Name] slows down to a trot before eventually coming to a stop, bidding everyone do the same. And once the last person rolls in - poor Kuroko simply dives face first into the sand and lays there - she checks her watch.

“Seems everyone running with me finished the mile at 6 minutes 19 seconds,” she announces softly before tapping the screen. “I can’t be sure for everyone in between, but Tetsu-chan, you finished 7 minutes 04 seconds, which is actually-... What’re you doing laying in the sand, like that?”

As a response, the bluette simply wheezes. “I don’t think I can move my legs, [Nickname]-chan…”

With a smirk, the manager grabs him by the ankle and simply drags him over to the rest of the group, dropping him beside her. “All right, everyone! Good work on the first mile! After a quick two minute break, we’ll head back.”

“Two minutes?” Koganei whines playfully, doubled over. “C’mon, [Name]-chan, can’t it be just a bit longer?”

“What’s that? A one minute break?” her smile is as sweetly terrifying as she can muster.

“Two minutes is great!” Koga quickly agrees, Mitobe nodding vigorously beside him. 

Nodding in approval, [Name] folds her arms. “Good. Now, I recommend you stay moving; don’t let your heart rate slow down. I wouldn’t recommend inhaling sand, like Tetsu, here.”

“Ugh…”

“So this is the guy who has a similar name to me?” Kuroo snickers, not too tired at all. “He reminds me of Kenma.”

“Kenma shows a lot more emotion than Kuroko-san,” Hinata informs the Nekoma captain. “Kuroko-san’s probably scarier, too.”

“Really!?” Kuroo grins as Kageyama nods in agreement, [Name] snickering at the statement from a couple paces away. “I find that hard to believe.”

After the two minutes are up, the boys round about [Name] once more. “All right! On the way back, feel free to take it at an easier pace, if you’d like. There’s no pressure to keep up with me, this go around. Just take it at your own pace.”

There are multiple sighs of relief, Koga still doubled over. “Thank god.”

“Now, for those who do want to continue at a high intensity, I’m increasing my pace on the way back,” she adds with a sly smirk. “I’m not going for my PR or anything, but I will be shooting for a sub five minute mile. So if you don’t think you can keep up with that in these conditions, then no worries, just stick to your own pace. No one’s judging you, seriously. This is meant to be a cooldown, so take it easy if you need to. I just wanted to get a good run in for the day, seeing as I’m not the one conditioning like you all. Ready?”

After a couple of half-hearted ‘yeah’s and groans, [Name] nods and pushes off at the front, gliding across the sand at a faster rate than before, pumping her arms and legs more seriously. More than half the group jogs at what’s closer to be a seven to eight minute pace behind her, completely left in her dust as they use the cooldown to wind out their muscles. Kuroko runs at a slower ten minute pace, Tsukki and Yamaguchi not far behind him, chatting as they jog casually. There are a couple of competitive souls, however, who stride after [Name].

Kagami is one of them; way too competitive for his own good. His record mile time averages somewhere around five minutes, but that’s only achievable when he’s fresh and running on solid ground, seeing as he’s not an avid runner. To be running through the sand beneath the scorching sun after having conditioned nonstop for the past two hours takes a toll on him. Not only that, but he ran a mile just before this, so to be pushing himself to run a second one even faster than the first is a bit extreme. Nonetheless, he tries to shoot for something close to five minutes, whether or not he finishes near [Name]’s time or not. 

Bokuto and Kuroo, being the childish pair they are, turn it into a race. Kuroo took it a bit easier with the last mile, so he has a bit of energy saved up for the mile back. Bokuto, on the other hand, has plenty of energy left to spend, despite having run up front during the first mile. He’s simply an unstoppable force of nature. Not too far ahead of them is Akaashi, deadpanning as they shove each other back and forth ten meters behind him. Lev, running near the mischievous pair, is almost knocked over when Bokuto shoves Kuroo into him.

Kageyama and Hinata both have a near four minute mile PR, but they don’t have the energy or willpower to shoot for it. Instead, they stick to either side of [Name], all three of them running in silence and focusing on their breathing. It’s strange to see the three of them being serious when together; they’re always teasing and poking fun with one another in any other situation. They’re certainly never quiet. So to see them running in complete silence, aside from their steady breathing, is almost discomforting. 

[Name] continuously checks her watch along the way, seeing how much distance she has left. When it comes down to being 400 meters away, she begins increasing her kick gradually, Kageyama and Hinata following her lead. And Riko’s waiting for them at the mile mark, clutching her clipboard patiently. Grinning, [Name] sprints past her, Hinata and Kageyama in tow. The three of them catch their breath as everyone else begins to file in after. Akaashi finishes just a few seconds after they finish, Kuroo, Bokuto, and Lev not far behind that. Kagami sprints in after that, missing the five minute mark at 5:17. 

As the rest slowly begin to trickle in, Kageyama flicks some sweat from his eye and gazes at [Name], doubled over beside him. “What’d we make?”

Panting, she checks her wrist. “4:58.”

“Wow! That’s really good!” Hinata gasps, quickly recovering. “I had no idea you were so fast, [Name]-chan!”

“She runs as fast as you do, dumbass,” Kageyama reminds him breathlessly.

“Yeah, well, I never really thought about it until now, okay!?” Hinata retorts, arms crossed. “Actually, now that I am thinking about it, how fast are you really, [Name]-chan?”

Kageyama stands up straight, hands on his hips and sweating heavily. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve quite asked you, either. What’s your mile time?”

Letting her hair back down, [Name] beams and throws the locks over her shoulder. “My fastest recorded mile was a 4:42!”

Both Karasuno boys are left wide-eyed, very impressed by this. And they’re not the only ones, either. Akaashi strides over, raking a hand through his hair. “That’s incredible, [Name]-san. To be able to run that fast as a first year. Isn’t the world record for the woman’s mile like a 4:10?”

“I believe it’s 4:12,” she nods, grinning widely. “But I’ve never really been much of an avid runner on my own time. I prefer long walks over jogs, in all honesty. I only got fast through conditioning for basketball back in America. On any other occasion, I only run when it's with other people; that way, I can enjoy their company. Or when I’m just training this lot, of course.”

At these words, Kageyama’s eyes widen further; it’s only then that he realizes that [Name] didn’t go on morning jogs with him because she wanted to get a run in before the day. She did it because he wanted to go on runs during their study sessions; she just wanted to spend time with him. Now it makes more sense to him that she said she enjoyed talking to him during their jogs, which is why she took them at a slower pace.

“[Name]-chan!” Bokuto comes running over, tackling her to the ground. “We finished running! Can we play a set, now!?”

She giggles at his eagerness. “I’d love to, Bokkun, but I need to finish the rest of my team’s cooldown, first.”

Izuki, who had just run in and collapsed on all fours reels back at her words, complaining between pants. “There’s...more!?”

Amused, she ruffles his black hair. “Not to worry, Izu-chan. Just stretching.”

“Thank god,” the point guard relaxes, moving to sit on his backside with his legs apart. “Stretch me.”

Rolling her eyes, [Name] smirks as she digs her knee into his bare back, pushing him forward into a deeper stretch. “Like this?”

He winces. “Not so hard!”

“That’s what she said,” she snickers mischievously. At this, she adds even more pressure playfully. “If you’re not feeling the pain, you aren’t stretching your muscles correctly!”

Fed up, he pushes her off him. “Not everyone is as flexible as you, [Nickname]-chan!”

“Oh? You’re saying I’m flexible?” her tone is playful. “What’re you implying, Izu-chan?”

He laughs at this. “Take your nasty thoughts and make yourself scarce, dumbass!”

Kagami growls nearby. “Honestly, [Name], you disgust me.”

“Oh, really, Taiga? You look like you need a good stretch!” her tone is threatening. “Let me help you with that.”

“Get the fuck away from me, dumbass!” Kagami ducks in order to avoid her. “Go make someone else miserable for once.”

Laughing, she leaves the tired and sore redhead be, eyeing his knees as he stretches himself. “Your injuries are getting better. The low intensity of running on sand seems to be helping.”

He blinks, glaring at his legs. “Whatever heals me up in time for the Winter Cup.”

Just as [Name]’s about to reply, Kuroo places his hands on both her shoulders from behind, resting his head on hers with a smirk. “[Name]-chan, would you be a darling manager and help me stretch?”

His voice is soft, like a purr, irritating Kagami. [Name], however, is much obliged. “Gladly, Kuroo-kun!”

“Me, too, [Name]-chan!” Hinata jumps in front of her giddily.

“You next,” she agrees with a smile as she stretches Kuroo out. 

With Seirin cooled down and practicing shooting drills rather than scrimmaging in the sand, [Name] continues another match with the volleyball boys. She only promises one set, however, eager to lay out and tan for a while after. With more players available, they play six-on-six with students from each school. On one team is Hinata, Kageyama, Yaku (in pink trunks), Tanaka, Yamamoto (in red trunks), and Inuoka (in green trunks). The other is made up of Bokuto, Akaashi, Kuroo, Nishinoya, Lev, and [Name]. Said girl sets her speaker back up to play music before the set begins. 

“[Name]-chan, hurry up!” Kuroo whines playfully, beckoning her back towards the court impatiently.

“Hold on!” she guffaws, playing her beach playlist before flicking on a pair of sunglasses and jogging over to him. “I’m coming!”

“[Name]-san!” Nishinoya throws his arms wide, patting her head as she comes near. “We get to be on the same team this time!”

From the other side of the net, Hinata huffs, arms folded. “No fair! I’m the only one who hasn’t been able to play with [Name]-chan yet!”

She giggles, not having heard the small redhead. “All right! Let’s do this, then!”

“Our serve!” Yamamoto calls dibs, taking the ball to the edge of the sand court.

He serves it over nicely, but Nishinoya ultimately picks it up, the ball arching smoothly towards Akaashi. “All right!”

As Akaashi prepares to set up the toss, he quickly assesses his options. Bokuto on the left, Lev on the right, Kuroo from the back, or… [Name], running up center. He narrows his eyes, curiosity overwhelming him. He knows that [Name]’s a libero; he’s seen her spike a couple of times, but never has he set one of them. They aren’t out of the ordinary, either. She has a decent serve, but it’s not like she’s an offensive player, or anything. Her hits are rather weak. So why is she coming up center for the toss?

And why can’t he ignore her presence as she does?

Not able to pass the opportunity, Akaashi ultimately makes the toss short and sweet, seeing as [Name] jumps up just a meter in front of him, her height barely scaling the top of the net. That doesn’t matter, however, for he notices her eyes flicker gold, shifting from the ball to the other side of the court, then quickly back to the ball again. Then, like a crack of lightning, her backswing surges forward and slams into the ball not with strength, but speed.

This is enough to send the ball hurtling past Inuoka, who reaches out to receive it, but ultimately can’t catch it completely, hitting it out of bounds. [Name] lands in the soft sand with a grin, beaming at her setter for the match. “Wow, Akaashi-senpai! That was an impressive toss! Especially since you’ve never synched up with me before!”

Eyes wide, Akaashi blinks in order to regain his composure, turning towards the girl with the decently aimed spike. Seeing as she’s holding her hands above her head, he high fives them. “Thanks. Nice kill.”

The set goes on and ends with Kuroo’s team winning, 25-21. The teams may have been just a little bit unfair, with a top five ace as well as two liberos, but nothing can be done about it now. And just as [Name] promised, that was her last set for a while, despite many of the boys’ protest. Before they can grab her and force her to stay, she jogs back over to the basketball court and refills the empty water bottles for Seirin. 

“Thanks, [Nickname]-chan,” Kuroko pants as he takes the bottle from her during a break.

“Of course, Tetsu-chan!” she beams, moving on to hand out some more. “Now, it’s not that I don’t sincerely love every single one of you, but I think I’m going to take some time to soak in the sun for a bit. So, if you’ll excuse me."

[Name] grabs her speaker and walks down towards the shoreline, picking an unoccupied umbrella to set her water bottle and speaker beneath, out of the sun. She lays her pink towel out just beside it, carefully laying it down flat beneath the sun. Lazily tying her hair back, [Name] lays back with a hum, lightly bobbing her head to the music as she basks in the afternoon sun and ocean breeze.

After an hour of flipping over back and forth while vibing to music, [Name] can feel the tingle of excess heat beginning to crawl over her skin. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she pushes herself up from her stomach to her knees, stretching out a bit before hopping up to her feet. She grabs some sun tan lotion from her bag beneath the umbrella, squeezing some out onto her palm. 

She catches more than just a couple glances from beach goers and other strangers as she begins to rub the substance into her smooth skin, the oil from the lotion leaving a layer of slick sheen over her flesh. [Name] quickly rubs a bit of it into her face and ears, leaving only one spot left. She frowns at the cruel sun she can feel beating down on her bare back. She can’t possibly reach it on her own. Her first thought is to ask one of the managers, whether it be from Karasuno or Fukurodani. Then she realizes they’re out in the ocean, relaxing on innertubes and drinking lemonades.

Well, that would leave the only other girl to be Riko; she’s not available, either, seeing as she’s busy coaching at the moment. Which means all the Seirin boys are out of the question, too. Glancing to the left, she can see another set going on at the sand volleyball court. They’ve been playing pretty much nonstop, a few guys standing around the sidelines to take a break while they leave the others to play. Not wanting to bother any of them, the only person that leaves is…

[Name] walks over to the next umbrella, just to the right of hers facing the ocean. With a soft smile, she dips her head underneath it, gaining the attention of the inhabitant holed up beneath it in his black swim trunks.

“Kenma!” she chirps sweetly, cocking her head into the tent.

“Oh, hey, [Name],” Kenma greets softly, setting his phone aside a minute to look at her. His hair is tied back into a low bun; the style suits him.

“I assume you’re hiding under here from Kuroo-kun?” she makes no move to sit beside him.

“Yeah,” he admits modestly. “I’m not up for playing a bunch of volleyball in the heat.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to rat you out, or anything,” [Name] displays her intentions, showing him the bottle of suntan lotion in her hands. “I just have a small favor to ask.”

Eyeing the bottle, the game-enthusiast understands, sighing as he gets up to stand beside her outside the umbrella. “Sure.”

Wide-eyed, [Name] blinks and hands him the bottle, a bit surprised he wasn’t at all opposed. “T-Thanks.”

Kenma doesn’t necessarily respond with words, squeezing some of the contents of the bottle onto his palm before evenly distributing it onto both hands. Realizing this, [Name] quickly turns around to face her back towards him, carefully lifting any stray hair up to ensure it’s out of the way. He then begins to apply the lotion to her shoulder blades and down her spine, careful to slide his fingers beneath her bikini straps to leave no inch of skin uncovered. He has to get a bit more from the bottle to get the lower half of her back; it’s at this point he can feel eyes on him, burning into his back even more intensely than the sun itself.

The volleyball set had come to a complete pause as each player stares out of jealousy, watching Kenma’s small hands slide just above [Name]’s cheeky bikini bottoms to cover the base of her spine with sun protection. The Seirin boys were getting distracted from their basketball drills, much to Riko’s irritation; however, they couldn’t take their eyes off the unacquainted boy rubbing their manager’s back with sunscreen. And the entire time, Kenma can feel their eyes on him. For some reason, this fact made him feel smug. And to top it all off, he rubs the excess sunscreen off on her by sliding either hand up her sides, his catlike eyes gleaming in the direction of the malicious stares. 

“There you go,” he says softly, fixing one of her twisted bikini straps swiftly as she turns around. “All done.”

[Name] beams. “Thanks, Kenma! You’re the best!”

He heads back towards his umbrella as [Name] turns to jog back to hers. “No problem.”


	26. Issues

After laying out for another hour and some, [Name] can feel something shift in front of her, blocking the sun's rays from reaching her body, despite having her eyes closed. She slowly pushes her sunglasses up to her scalp, gazing up at her approacher.

“Suga?” she hums, stretching out a bit.

He smiles, finding the action quite cute; he crouches beside her. “Sorry to disturb you, [Name]-san. I just couldn’t help but notice there’s a small ice-cream stand a bit farther down the beach. I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to get some.” 

Sitting up, [Name] cocks her head to glance in the direction he’d mentioned, seeing what indeed looks to be some sort of ice-cream stand. Too big to be a cart, but not quite the size of a shop. She beams. “What a wonderful idea! We can get some for everyone else, while we’re at it!”

Suga’s eyes widen a bit at her proposition. “A-Are you sure? I’m sure that’ll be pricey-...”

She snorts, cutting him off. “Suga, you have to have realized that I have plenty of wealth to spare by now, haven’t you? Our only concern should be how we’re going to manage carrying it all back over here. Now, come on!”

The girl jumps up from her towel, snatching her upperclassman by the wrist and walking off towards the ice cream stand. Suga stumbles after her a bit, seeing as she’s dragging him by the hand for the first couple of paces. Soon after, however, she steps into an amble, allowing the taller boy to strut alongside her freely, chatting with his younger friend casually and happily. 

“Seems like the line may be a bit longer that we expected,” [Name] frowns, noting that there are multiple people waiting to buy some frozen treats from the stand. “It reaches this wall, here.”

“No worries. Let’s think on the bright side,” Suga’s smile is as heartwarming as ever, placing a hand on her back and leading her forward. “This way, we get to wait in the shade for a while.”

[Name] sighs, smiling knowingly. “I suppose you’re right.”

A bit of silence falls between the two momentarily, and Suga puts it upon himself to keep it from becoming awkward. “H-Hey… I never got to say sorry for showing up here out of the blue like we did. At first I didn’t really understand why you were so upset, but I understood after you yelled at Coach Ukai about it. I’m sorry.”

“O-Oh! No, it’s quite alright! You don’t have to apologize,” [Name] frantically waves her hands before smiling smalley. “I-It’s really no big deal…”

Suga mentally curses himself, having gone and made it awkward when it wasn’t before. He sighs, glancing back at the unmoving line around the corner of the wall. He wracks his mind for a way to start up another lighthearted conversation, like before.

Leave it to [Name] to break the tension for him. She smirks mischievously, brushing her fingers against his bare forearm. “You look lost in thought. You know, Suga, if you feel that bad about it, you could just ditch your team for a while and go skinny dipping by the cliffs with me. Whaddya say?”

The setter glances down at her flirtatious tone with a bit of surprise. He’s well aware of [Name]’s mischievous nature and her bad habit of flustering people for her own amusement (Kageyama complains about it often, seeing as he’s one of her easiest targets). However, this is the first time she’s decided to turn the tides on him. Knowing this, he decides to play her at her own game.

“Oh, yeah?” with a sly smirk, Suga snatches the wrist of the hand she uses to trace his forearm with, using his other hand to grab her bare waist and spin her around. With a swift step, he pins her against the wall they stand beside, one palm flat against the brick beside her and the other pinning her left hand above her head. Seeing as they’re the last in line, they’re the only two waiting behind the wall; no one can see them here. Suga leaves no room for comfort, his swim trunks pressed against her bare torso, leaving barely an inch between his slick skin and her bikini top. He props his leg between both of hers, knee brushing her swimsuit bottoms. And while he may not be the tallest one of her male acquaintances, he still has a solid height advantage over her, leaning down a bit in order to get in her face, his expression smug by the fact her eyes are so wide. “Why don’t we look into that proposal after we finally get this ice-cream, hm?”

Hearing his husky tone and the spark of playful lust in Suga’s hazel eyes sends [Name]’s heart a flutter, heat crawling to her face as she blushes. For once in such a long time, she’s at a complete loss for words. No one in Japan has been able to fight her fire with their own devices. Suga’s the first. Said third year is quite pleased by the look on her face, finding her to be quite adorable when she’s flustered. Satisfied, he pulls away from her with a smirk, proud of what he’s accomplished. She steps off the wall, moving to stand beside him as they move up the line a bit. He casts a side glance at her, smug to find her staring. She clears her throat, coyly tucking some hair behind her ear without a word.

Deciding to be merciful, Suga once again adopts his light and angelic tone, pretending as if nothing had even happened in the first place. “Looks like it’s almost our turn to order, [Name]-san. You have what you need in order to pay?”

Eyes wide, she scrambles for her bag. “Oh! Right.”

After everyone enjoys the sweet treats that [Name] and Suga brought back for them, it begins to get late. Some beach-goers begin packing up for the day. Seirin enjoys a twenty minute break in the water, courtesy of [Name]’s good word. No longer than that, however, does Riko call them back to shore.

“Good work outside today, everyone. It’s time to move training into the gym for the evening!” she announces, clapping her hands.

“Right,” they echo, gathering their belongings to bring inside.

“Gym?” Yamaguchi questions, standing a few paces away from [Name] as she begins gathering water bottles and such. 

“Mm hmm. The housing here includes a gym seeing as it’s a common location for basketball teams to train at over the summer,” she explains, a couple other volleyball players gathering around nearby to listen. [Name] grunts as she picks up a cooler with a smile. “Whelp. You lot have been asking about my basketball team since day one. If you want to actually see them in action, you’re more than welcome to sit in and watch anytime you’d like.”

“Your...team?”

“Oh! Maybe you’ll even get to see me in a bit of action tonight, too,” she shoots them a quick wink before heading off towards the gym with her supplies.

Less than an hour later, the basketball team has changed into clothes and put on their shoes in order to play an organized scrimmage in the gym. And they aren’t the only ones to notice an enormous improvement in their overall movement on the court. Ukai stands beside [Name], more than impressed. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less from a team led by you two girls, but this is extraordinary.”

[Name] nods proudly. “By having them work in the sand all day, they’ve begun to focus more of their weight into their big toes when they change direction, which is the most important part of your foot when it comes to agility and speed. And by forcing them not to dribble while they scrimmaged on the beach, they’re already learning to cut unnecessary movements from their play. If this keeps up for the next two weeks, it will be more than beneficial for the team’s overall growth.”

Riko chuckles as Kagami makes a quick layup. “Right? Kagami-kun’s learning to broaden his offence, too. He’s not dunking left and right, anymore. He’s learned to take new approaches after we stripped him of the ability to jump so high in the sand.”

“Everyone’s fundamentals are shifting,” [Name] agrees, jotting something down on her clipboard. “Fascinating, isn’t it, Keishin-kun?”

He stares down at her with wide eyes. “If you mean yourself, then, yes. You really do fascinate me, [Name]-san.”

Before she can reply, Kagami waves her down after the match, the team getting in around an hour of personal training before dinner. “Oi, [Name]. Play me one-on-one as Aomine, yeah?”

With a glance at Riko for permission, the manager gleefully skips towards the redhead, tying her hair back lazily. “Oh, it feels as if it’s been ages since I’ve been able to hold a basketball in my hands.”

Kagami scoffs, wiping some sweat from his brow. “You’re the one who chose to run off and play volleyball instead. So don’t get mad at me if you’re rusty.”

“Oi. be grateful I’m helping you at all, Kagamoron,” she smirks, catching it skillfully. “I assume you want me on offense for the time being?” 

“Yeah. Don’t hold back, either,” he lowers into a defensive stance. “I want it to feel like the real thing.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do my best,” she begins to dribble slowly.

On the sidelines, more than just a couple of the visiting volleyball dorks had trickled into the gym, curious to see the acclaimed [Last Name][Name] and her team in action. This group includes Hinata, Kageyama, Nishinoya, Tanaka, Suga, Daichi, Asahi, Yachi, Lev, Kuroo, Akaashi, Bokuto, and Ukai. Yamaguchi would have joined if not for Tsukki’s disinterest. 

“This is so weird…” Hinata admits softly, eyes sparkling. “I don’t know why, but for some reason I felt as if I’d never get to see [Name]-chan play basketball… Like it would remain to be some far off legend to me.”

“That’s stupid. Of course we’d get to see her play eventually,” Kageyama folds his arms stubbornly, eyes trained on the girl. “We’re her-... We know she plays, after all.”

Daichi grins. “I can’t help but feel excited.”

Kuroo also smirks. “From everything we’ve heard, I just hope she lives up to the hype.”

“Of course she will!” Bokuto cheers. “Our [Name]-chan is insanely talented.”

“She’s still a girl, Bokuto-san,” Akaashi reminds the spiker softly. “While [Name]-san is most likely the best-of-the-best out of her age bracket for girls, and while I hate to admit it, it’s a totally different world to be playing with the guys. Kagami-kun is a solid thirty centimeters taller than her at least…”

“You’d be surprised,” the entire group jumps as Kuroko appears out of nowhere beside them, drying his perspiration with a dry towel.

“Tetsuya!” Nishinoya shrieks, clutching his heart. “You really need to stop doing that!”

“Sorry.”

“Kuroko-san lacks a lot of presence, so it’s hard to notice him at times,” Kageyama explains to the rest of the group, who freaked the fuck out after the bluette snuck up on them. Asahi desperately tries to calm down Yachi, who seems to have short-circuited after being surprised like that. “[Name] says it helps him be a better basketball player, though.”

“I think I understand what you meant when you said this guy’s scarier than Kenma, Chibi-chan,” Kuroo catches his breath with a small smile. “I believe you now.”

Kuroko is unphased by the spotlight on him for the time being, gazing in Akaashi’s direction. “I know you probably only mean to look out for [Name]-chan’s wellbeing, but I think you underestimate how good of a player she really is.”

Heeding the phantom’s words, the volleyball boys all turn their attentions back to the highly anticipated girl across the court from them, waiting for her one-on-one training session versus the Seirin ace to begin. The speed of her dribbling begins to pick up just a bit, the thud of the ball louder against the floorboards. Kagami’s eyes narrow at her, scrutinizing her every motion; he dreadfully awaits for her to make her first move. 

Which she does just seconds later. From her right hand, [Name] crosses the ball quickly between her legs. Kagami hesitates lunging for the ball, seeing as [Name] has made no decision on taking it one direction or the other yet. Amused that the redhead read her bluff, she decides to challenge him head on. She takes a large step right towards him, forcing him to step back before jabbing for the ball in her grasp. As soon as he does that, shifting to his right in order to reach, [Name] grins, dipping to her own right in order to breach his defense. She spins around his left, making a swift jump shot as soon as she’s past.

The majority of the volleyball boys are left speechless. Akaashi’s eyes are wide with shock, an emotion he rarely displays. “Amazing…”

Kagami, however, isn’t as impressed, seeing as it isn’t the first time he’s witnessed [Name]’s play. “Oi, dumbass! I thought you were trying to make it feel like the real deal!”

“What do you mean?” she tilts her head, genuinely confused as she recollects the ball. “I swiftly got it past you in a streetball fashion, didn’t I?”

“Well, yeah, but that felt like-... that felt like you, not Aomine,” Kagami admits, eyes darting away in embarrassment. “That point just felt like I was defending against you in a one-on-one, streetball style. I need to practice against Aomine’s style, not yours.”

With a hum, [Name] nods. “I suppose you’re right. I should be using a few more excessive movements if I hope to accurately portray Aomine’s version of streetball for you. Please forgive me, Taiga. Could you give me a moment to get in the right headspace?”

Successfully fighting off his blush, he waves her off. “Yeah, right. Whatever you need.”

She shoots him a grateful nod, holding the basketball against her flat stomach as she closes her eyes, steadying her breathing. Hinata leans towards Kageyama. “Hey, what do you think she’s doing now?”

“Hell if I know,” he responds in a hushed tone, scared he may break her concentration or something weird like that. 

“She’s visualizing,” Kuroko explains, startling a couple more people who aren’t used to him quite yet.

Nishinoya arches a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, Kagami-kun is using her as a means to improve his play against a certain opponent of ours. Aomine-kun was an old teammate of mine in middle school,” Kuroko continues.

“Like Kise?” Tanaka asks.

“Yes. Both of them and myself were part of the Generation of Miracles, including three more players; two of which we haven’t had the chance to play just yet,” Kuroko nods.

“The Generation of Miracles…?” Akaashi breathes, clearly impressed. “Wasn’t that the group of phenomenal middle schoolers that completely wiped the floor with every single other team in Japan last year? You were one of them, Kuroko-san?”

“Yes, but I was easily the weakest of the bunch,” he admits. “And Aomine-kun is quite possibly the strongest. He’s never lost before. No one has ever been able to beat him one-on-one, either. Kagami-kun learned that the hard way during the Inter-High. Aomine-kun’s school completely floored us. That’s why he needs [Name]-chan to help him learn to play against Aomine-kun’s style of basketball.”

Yachi, seeing as she’s so meek, tugs at Kuroko’s shirt to get his attention. “Um, Kuroko-kun, was it? H-How exactly is your teammate going to use [Name]-san to do that? What is she visualizing?”

Kuroko’s smile is small. “[Nickname]-chan is very incredible. She’s seen Aomine-kun’s tapes as well as watched him play in person; she even managed to lure him into a one-on-one against her in order to learn as much about his offensive and defensive style as she could. From all of that, she’s memorized a lot of his movements; and to an extent, she can mimic them. This way, Kagami-kun can get a feel of what it’s like to play against Aomine-kun even when he isn’t here. However, [Name]-chan can’t be exactly like Aomine-kun. She’s nowhere near his height or size, or as strong, or quite as fast, either. Even then, just playing against [Name]-chan as she is is good practice.”

“As she is?” Bokuto leans forward to glance at Kuroko.

He nods, a bit of pride flickering in his usually emotionless eyes. “Kagami-kun, easily our best offensive player, has never been able to beat [Nickname]-chan in a one-on-one. The only person we know of who’s been successful against her was Aomine-kun, and even then, [Name]-chan let him win in order to study his movements.”

“So this is [Name]-chan in full manager mode…” Hinata breathes in awe.

A minute or so later, [Name]’s eyes slowly glaze open again, glowing a bright gold before fading back to their calculating [E/C] hue. “She’s using her eyes again…”

“Her…. eyes?” Yachi questions softly.

Realizing everyone was staring at him for saying that, Daichi blinks quickly. “Oh, um…. Haven't any of you all noticed when her eyes change colors like that? From [E/C] to gold? Haven't you ever wondered why they do that in the first place?”

All the guys process this in awe, eyes lingering on the girl in question. Tanaka puts a finger to his chin. “Now that you mention it, yeah. I remember her eyes turning gold when she was able to name all of our positions without us telling her on the first day of Golden Week.”

"Both [Name]-chan and Riko-senpai have remarkable eyes," Kuroko begins to explain. "They essentially do the same thing. My coach's don't exactly change color like my manager's do, however. They can both see all of your physical attributes, strengths, and weakness just by looking at you. They can process it in numbers and statistics on the spot to utilize later."

“....So that's how she comes up with all those strategies for us on the spot,” Suga adds softly.

“Wow! [Name]-san/chan is so cool!” Nishinoya, Tanaka, Bokuto, and Lev exclaim simultaneously.

Kuroko doesn’t respond to this, turning to inspect the match between his manager and his light once more. Moving the ball from both hands to just her left one, dribbling it slowly at first before picking up the pace, [Name]’s face is rather serious looking. She has quite intense concentration, her focus unwavering as she channels moves that she’s seen Aomine do in games. 

Taking a bold step towards Kagami, she begins to dribble back and forth between her legs; quickly and just out of reach. She twists her body, switching sides and dribbling behind her back after she steps. Frustrated, Kagami jabs at where he believes she’ll bring the ball next, in her right hand. Ready for this reaction, however, [Name] twirls around to her left, pulling the ball to her chest before then shooting while rolling. Kagami gasps, recognizing the move that Aomine pulled off during the Touou game immediately.

“Tch. Again,” the redhead orders, checking her the ball after it falls from the hoop.

Despite being spoken to, [Name] does not reply, catching the ball with a stoic expression on her face. The boys on the sidelines are set uneasy by it. Kuroko gazes at her, face just as blank. “Her concentration really is impressive, isn’t it?”

“She’s like the calm before a storm,” Kageyama agrees softly, earning a glance from Ukai at his words. 

During the next play, [Name] lunges forwards almost immediately, [H/L] hair swinging behind her as she dribbles the ball impressively on her right side. As she starts bouncing it between her legs again, Kagami’s sure to be a bit more hesitant, not wanting to impatiently rush a steal only to lose the ball like last time. He extends his arm out to her, his fingertips just barely grazing the t-shirt on her collarbone. 

And in the blink of an eye, [Name] dives to try and drive past his right (her left), taking the ball with her in her right palm. Seeing as he was patient this time, Kagami manages to step back with her, smirking once he’s sure he’s got her. 

However, he forgets how [Name] annoyingly predicts every movement he ever makes versus her in a one-on-one before he can even make them.

Having expected him to step back like that, [Name] curls her hand around the ball and pulls it back between Kagami’s legs. She reaches her arm back around him like a whip, catching it before it can get away. At this move, Kagami stumbles forward with wide eyes, nearly tripping up and falling forward. Before he can even swerve back around to face her, she’s swiftly making a reverse layup, landing gracefully on her toes. 

“Damn it!” Kagami hisses, beating himself up over the fact that he still can’t manage to even lay a finger on [Name] while defending against her, one-on-one. “Again!”

“You got it, boss,” the girl obliges swiftly with a joke, though her face remains rather expressionless, not daring to break her concentration. “When defending against a streetball player, your stance should be a bit wider and lower to the ground.”

“Right.”

“Extending your arm is something I approve of. It limits your opponent’s field of view as well as their movement. You’re getting better at that,” She smirks slightly. “You’re adopting habits from Aomine’s form, actually. That’s good.”

“Right.”

For another half hour or so, [Name] and Kagami battle it out on the right side of the gym, the former sparing no mercy and the latter refusing to give up, even after failing numerous times. Over this time slot, some of the volleyball guests trickle in and out of the gym to get a good look at the famous [Last Name][Name] in action for themselves. Some stay the entire hour she’s in there with her ace, putting her own sweat and effort into making him a better player. Eventually, however, it’s high time the boys get some food in them, so [Name] pulls the plug on her personal practice with Kagami, much to the boy’s reluctance. 

“Yeah, yeah, Taiga. You’ve worked your knee enough, today,” she brushes him off for the upteenth time as he asks her for just one more round. “Besides, I should probably help our culinary-lacking coach in the kitchen before she burns our hotel down.”

“My knee is fine!” Kagami pleads, watching as she gathers water carriers and towels from the bench. “I need this practice!”

“And we’re here for two weeks!” she reminds him with a tired smile, throwing a spare towel over her shoulder. “You’ll be up bright and early to practice more tomorrow! So get a move on before I kick your ass!”

Deciding it was a lost cause at this point, Kagami storms off towards the doors, grumbling as he goes. There, he finds Bokuto, Kuroo, Akaashi, Kenma, and Lev waiting, chatting amongst one another. A certain owl-eyed ace perks up when he spots the redhead approaching.

“Oi! Kagami-kun!” he waves the grumpy first year over. “Watching you play with [Name]-chan was so fun! You really are as good as she says you are!”

Kagami blinks, eyes widening at the comment. Though, he’s not sure if he should take it as a compliment, just yet, seeing as the only skill they’ve seen from him thus far was getting his ass whooped by a girl half his size, albeit a genius. “She told you guys about me?”

“Oh, yeah! She said you were one of the best power forwards she’s ever come across!” Lev beams before holding a hand up to the top of his head. “Though, she said you aren’t quite as tall as me, just yet. Don’t worry, you’ll grow!”

Irked by this, Kagami has half the mind to retort, brow twitching as the irritating volleyball boys chuckle. Before he can, however, the mediator and saving grace of a manager comes prancing over to them. “All right, I think the gym is up to standard, now! Thanks for doing absolutely nothing to help out with cleaning up, by the way, Taiga.”

“Oi, you were the one who said my knee has had enough work for tonight,” he’s quick to snap in defense.

She hums, unimpressed. “If it hurts you too much just to clean, now, I might have you take a mandatory day of rest tomorrow. You good with that?”

“...Fuck off.”

“Ah, there it is,” she chortles, slapping him on the back playfully before ushering the group of boys out of the gym. “All right, let’s pray Riko-chan hasn’t made too much of a mess in the kitchen without me.”

Though it was a hassle, [Name] -- with the help of all the visiting volleyball managers -- manages to scrape together something edible from Riko’s disastrous cooking. The sun has almost completely set by the time the boys begin eating, enthusiastically lining up with trays to be served rice and curry from the girls. [Name] smiles warmly and strikes up a bit of small conversation with everyone who stops in front of her as she spoons a portion of rice onto their plates. A solid portion of them praise her for her basketball skills after watching her earlier. She bops Nishinoya over the head with a spare ladle as he asks for a second serving before he can even start the first. On the contrary, she sneaks a bit more than a single serving of rice onto Tsukishima’s plate when he steps up to her. Glaring at her softly, he only flicks her on the forehead before walking off without another word. 

And once all of the boys are served, [Name] begins plating her own dish, grabbing some spare eating utensils and wheeling around to face the dining area, steaming tray in hand. A couple heads turn her way, anxiously waiting to see which table she’d decide to sit at, mentally pleading for it to be theirs. They await with bated breaths as she strolls past a couple tables and slams her tray down next to Izuki and Kiyoshi, grinning in amusement when she successfully makes a couple of the second years jump in shock. Members of the other tables look away in defeat as she begins laughing and talking amongst them jubilantly, having chosen her spot for the night. Though, how could any of them be surprised, seeing as this is the first day she’s spent quality time with Seirin in a little over a month?

Around halfway through her meal, [Name] pulls out her phone to check the time, the sound of silverware clinking and happy chatter filling the entire room. She shoots Kiyoko a quick text, informing her that the girl’s baths close at eleven that night. As soon as she’s sent the message, however, another notification pops up from the top of her screen, the contact causing her heart to stop beating. Forgetting to breathe for a second, [Name] blinks before quickly shutting the device off, shoving it into her jacket pocket. She then stands from her seat, beginning to collect her tray.

“Oi, [Name]-chan, where are you going?” Koganei asks through a mouthful of curry.

“Yeah, you haven’t even finished your meal,” Tsuchida adds, leaning over and stealing a glob of rice from her plate. 

“Oh, I’ve had plenty,” she assures with a comforting smile, tucking some hair behind her ears. “You guys can finish what I’ve left. It’d be a shame for it to go to waste. In any case, I should go and prepare the girl’s baths before the managers decide to visit them. I had to inform the hotel we’d have more guests in the girls baths last minute, seeing as I had no idea they’d all be here until today.”

“All right. Avoid trouble,” Hyuga warns her.

“And thank you for the meal,” Kiyoshi adds, licking his lips happily.

“No problem! Good night, you guys!” she chirps, waving as she twirls on the base of her heel and beelining for the exit of the dining hall. 

A single pair of eyes follow her as rushes through the doors, digging her phone out of her pocket in a haste right before it manages to swing close behind her. Wiping the corner of his mouth with his napkin, Kuroko stands and trails after her, his disappearance overlooked and unnoticed by everyone in the dining hall, continuing to devour second servings as well as laughing boisterously amongst one another.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

\--- Kuroko ---

I could just tell.

Ever since the Touou game, I’ve started to notice a lot of subtle indications that [Name] gives away about her emotional state. Things I never would’ve noticed before, had it not been for that time I stumbled upon her in that locker room. Ever since then, I can’t help but wonder every time that I lay my eyes on her; how often does she go through something like that without someone like me there to find her? To listen to her? To be her shoulder to cry on?

As soon as I saw her stand up from that table in the dining room. It was hard to catch, but her hands were shaking. She nearly dropped her chopsticks as she tried to line them up on her tray. Her fingers nearly missed her cup before clasping around the drink to prevent it from spilling. Her eyes didn’t match her smile. That incredibly convincing smile. I’m confident that I’m the only one who can tell when it’s fake; hell, I was never able to before now. I suppose I’ve started to recognize it after she flashed it to the team when we were preparing to depart from the Touou game. Just after she and I returned from that locker room. 

And of course, there’s no way I’d miss the killer grip she had on her phone in her pocket. Or how quickly she whipped it out once she thought she was away from anyone who might see her.

My brows furrow at the thought of her sobbing on the floor again with an article about her deteriorating family back in America, blaming herself for their suffering. I need to get to her. Perhaps I shouldn’t have waited a couple minutes after she left before following after her. I didn’t want to raise suspicion. Though, I suppose that was thoughtless of me, seeing as no one but [Name] even notices when I exit a room in the first place.

For the trip, [Name] adopted to stay in her own room rather than with all the managers. In no way is it for selfish reasons, but simply for the fact that she can stay up late working on her laptop without disturbing anyone else's sleep. It’s not a very spacious room, if I correctly recall. Just a twin sized bed, a desk, and window. Coming across the door to this room, I mentally prepare myself before rapping my fingers against the wood thrice. No answer. I knock again.

“[Nickname]-chan?” I call out softly after knocking the third time. “Hey, I’m coming in, okay?”

Seeing as I’ve properly warned her, I turn the knob to the door and push it open. It isn’t locked. I feel an overwhelming sense of relief rush over me when my eyes land on her, standing beside her desk, her laptop sitting on its surface. I let out a breath that I had no idea I was holding in. 

As soon as I had opened the door, I heard the swift sound of [Name] shutting her laptop before taking a step away from it, as if trying to hide the fact that she was on it in the first place. I carefully slink into the room, shutting the door softly behind me.

“[Nickname]-chan?” I call for her again, in barely a whisper.

As her eyes glaze over to me, I notice that she’s struggling to hold her breath, tears brimming within her enthralling [E/C] eyes. I take a couple steps towards her, silently offering myself to her. She accepts my comfort slowly at first, then all at once. She doesn’t have to tip-toe to wrap her arms around my neck, silently sobbing into my shoulder. I place a hand flat against her back, unsure of what to do.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I breathe into her ear.

With a loud sniff, she shakes her head beside mine, biting her lip. “...C-Could you please just-... Just lay with me, a-awhile?”

I nod. “Sure…”

____________________________________________________________________________________________

\--- Daichi ---

After I finish dinner, I’m sure to bring my emptied plate and tray into the kitchen, where the Seirin coach is washing them in the sink, with the help of that one really tall dude with giant hands and tufty brown hair. I don’t remember either of their names, despite [Name] having told me them multiple times. It’s a bit shameful for me as a captain to have forgotten, and I hope I can get in and out of this situation quick enough in order to not expose my cluelessness. The lady coach thanks me with a smile as I hand her the dish. 

All I can think to do is respond with a nod. “Thank you for the meal.”

While I was intending to head out to go back to my room and get ready for a bath, the coach turns to me to say another thing. “Say, Daichi-kun, was it?”

I suddenly feel a bit guilty, seeing as she knows my name when I don’t know hers. I nod again, smiling nervously as I rub the back of my neck. “Yes. Forgive me, but I don’t remember your name….”

“No problem, big guy. You can call me Riko,” She smiles. “Are you busy right now, Daichi-kun?”

I want to say yes. “No, I’m not.”

“Perfect!” the coach chirps, pulling one of her rubber gloves off as she walks to the other end of the kitchen. “[Name]-chan left one of her playbooks with me to read last week, and I’ve finally gotten around to finishing it. I’ve made all of the adjustments she’s asked for, but I forgot to return it to her over dinner. If I know her, she’s probably holed up in that room of hers analyzing more film. Think you could deliver this to her for me?”

She offers the thick white binder to me, some papers sticking out of it and overflowing in random areas. I take it with care. “Of course!”

“Thank you!” she bows gratefully before returning to her dishes. 

With one last nod, I gingerly carry the binder out of the kitchen and towards the rooms all our teams have rented out for this hotel. I believe I remember where [Name]’s is. The second one on the right. There are some Fukurodani players lingering at the opposite side of the hall. Taking a deep breath, I stand outside of her room for a couple of seconds, giving myself some time to process. Then, with a huff, I reach up and knock on the door thrice.

Waiting for the door to swing open and reveal [Name] on the other side, I grow concerned when she does not. I knock again. Still no response. My brows furrow a bit, but I’m unsure as to why. A sense of urgency somewhat leads me to raise my fist again. I knock again, a bit harder than before.

“[Name]-san? Are you in there?” I call, licking my lip when she does not respond. “It’s Daichi. I’m coming in to give you something from your coach, okay? Don’t freak out.”

After warning her, I turn the door knob and push it open, expecting her to have her headphones in while watching film or something, holed up in a corner. My eyes widen, however, when I discover that she isn’t the only one present in the room. In fact, I nearly drop the binder as the door softly swings shut behind me. 

“S-Sorry. Am I interrupting?” I barely force out of my throat, which is feeling sore, all of a sudden.

“Not at all,” that first year bluette that [Name] calls ‘Tetsu’ whispers, lying on said girl’s bed, with her cuddled into his chest, her back rising and falling with every breath. “Just keep your voice down. She’s asleep.”

Still perplexed, I can only nod. “Oh, right. Of course.”

He looks at the binder in my grasp. “I don’t know where [Name]-chan would want that, so I guess just leave it on her desk.”

“Okay,” I say, refusing to look at him as he speaks as I attempt to maintain the most polite expression possible. I turn to the small desk to her right, placing the binder on top of a stack of others beside her laptop. “I suppose I’ll get going, then-...”

“Wait, Daichi-senpai, was it?” Kuroko calls softly, almost pleadingly. I face him, trying not to look at the girl lying on his chest. “Could you do me a favor?”

“Well, I was on my way to-...”

“Please,” he adds softly, his eyes holding no malicious intent. 

For some reason, his tone alone convinces me I should comply and my instincts as a captain takes over. “What do you need?”

He seems grateful, nodding towards the desk; most likely not wanting to move too much as to wake [Name]. “Her computer, on the desk. Open it.”

Arching a brow at the odd request, I stalk over to the desk again and slide my fingers over the laptop, carefully opening it. A log-in screen pops up, a bar requesting her password sitting just beneath a round photo icon. It appears to be a picture of herself, grinning goofily and flipping the camera off, her tongue hanging from her lips and her eyes squinting so tight they look almost like slits. I turn to look at Kuroko again. “Now what?”

“Try her birthday,” he suggests. “That’s what her phone password is.”

Nodding, I place my hands on her keyboard, about to type when I realize something. “...When is that?”

I half-expected Kuroko to be judgemental of my lacking knowledge on the girl in his arms, but he continues to abide by his expressionless self. “[Birth date].”

Typing in the date, I am immediately denied access after pressing ‘enter’. I shake my head at Kuroko, who furrows his brow a bit as he ponders. I wait patiently, but can’t help asking, “if you don’t mind me asking, why do you want to get into her computer, anyway?”

He gazes at me, looking me up and down, as if sizing me up; assessing whether or not I’m worthy of such information or not. He doesn’t take too long to come to a decision. “You have to promise to keep what I’m about to tell you between you and me. And I’m not asking for me. It’s for her. She’s sensitive about what I’m about to tell you. For what I’m aware, I’m the only one she’s told about this.”

My heart slows, shocked. I hadn’t really expected such a serious response to my question. I gaze at [Name], peacefully sleeping on top of Kuroko. “So why would you trust me? I only just met you and your team today.”

His stare is bone chilling. “[Name]-chan has told me on multiple occasions how amazing of a captain you are, Daichi-senpai. Dependable and strong-willed, with your loved one’s best interests always in mind. I know she wouldn’t hesitate to tell you what I’m about to if it were you in my position instead of me. She trusts you.”

At this point, my heart essentially stops beating. Hearing this first year tell me all the words that [Name] has used to describe me… I had no idea she held so much respect for me. For some reason, I can’t even question his words, stumbling over my own. “A-All right. I promise.”

Kuroko nods in approval. “Right. After our devastating loss in the Inter-High a couple of months ago, [Name]-chan excused herself from the team to take a private call. We left her be as we went back to the locker rooms and changed. By the time we were ready to leave, she still hadn’t returned. Coach sent me out to find her so that we could depart. It took me awhile, but I stumbled across her in an unused locker room. She was sitting on the far side of the room all alone, crying. I had never seen her cry before. Not ever. I had no idea what to do. I was kind of hoping she wouldn’t even notice I had walked in. Unfortunately for me, she’s the only person I’ve ever known who always notices when I enter a room.

As soon as she realized she wasn’t alone anymore, [Name]-chan immediately tried to stop crying, playing off as if she hadn’t been doing it in the first place. I sat beside her and asked what was wrong. At first I thought she felt responsible for our loss against Touou, but she quickly debunked that theory. Therefore, the only other logical reason I could think of was that the phone call she had taken led to her being upset. Turns out I was right. It was one of her agents making her aware of an article that was posted about her in the states.”

“What was it about?” I ask, taking a seat in the chair by the desk, feeling awkward to be standing over the bed as I had been up until this point. 

“About how absolutely no one knows where she is. Not even her own family,” Kuroko explains quietly, glancing at [Name] to ensure she’s still asleep. “They interviewed her brother and her mother about her whereabouts-...”

“[Last Name] Seraphina?” I gasp, barely aware the words had escaped my lips. “S-Sorry. She’s just a pretty legendary name in volleyball. Even though I’m not a setter myself, I can’t help but acknowledge and respect all of her achievements.”

“I see. Yes, they interviewed her. The mother spoke of how [Name]-chan’s been missing for a couple months now, and how that’s affecting her older brother, Laurence. He seemed rather sickly-looking, if I’m being quite honest. And according to the article, he’s been neglecting his college classes as well as his NBA training in order to search for [Name]-chan. And, well….”

“She blames herself for it,” I nod, understanding quickly. “Sounds like her.”

“Yeah. It took me a while to comfort her and convince her that as long as she’s happy, then she’s doing the right thing. And I haven’t heard a single word about the topic from her since,” Kuroko sighs. “However, ever since, I’ve become a bit more observant of her tells. I can recognize her fake smiles, now, and I notice when she’s upset by something. At dinner earlier, I caught the expression she made after taking a glance at her phone, even if it lasted for just a fraction of a second. Not even a minute later, she passed off her half-finished food, claiming not to be hungry. She then excused herself and swiftly left the cafeteria. I found her here, on the verge of tears, standing in the middle of her room. Right before I had walked in, I caught her on her laptop. She slammed it shut before I could see what was on it, however. Now, here I am; she asked me to lay with her. I think she purposefully fell asleep on top of me to keep me from trying to find out what was on it. She knows I would never dare wake her up; she barely gets enough sleep in the first place.”

“You’re sure that’s not just a coincidence?” I arch a brow. “I mean, [Name]-san’s a pretty affectionate person. Especially when it comes to physical touch…”

“Trust me. I know,” Kuroko smiles, amused by the statement. “I can just tell…”

Heart racing for reasons I’m unsure of, I lick my lips with a nod. “All right. What else do you think the password could be, then?”

Kuroko thinks for a moment. “Try ‘Laurence’.”

I arch a brow. “Her brother?"

"Yes. They were extremely close."

Typing the name in, I unfortunately only receive the same denial from the device. I shake my head. “It’s gotta be something else.”

“Maybe her dad’s name? But I’m not sure-...”

“It’s ‘sunshine’…”

Both Kuroko and I reel back in a bit of shock when [Name] speaks softly from on top of the bluette. With a heavy sigh, she lifts her head from his chest, eyes still tear-stained and inflamed. I can feel my cheeks heating up in embarrassment, an overwhelming feeling of guilt washing over me as she gazes at me beside her computer. I was trying to snoop and she caught me red-handed in the act. With a soft huff, she gets up from on top of Kuroko and slides off her bed. She glances at me before leaning over me to reach her laptop. I lean back at her vicinity, not wanting to get in her space as her fingers fly over the keyboard.

“My password is ‘sunshine’,” she says again softly, unlocking the computer tiredly. “That’s what my dad used to call me when I was younger.”

Both Kuroko and I are silent as she speaks; I’ve never quite heard her voice like this. I’ve heard it soft before. Like when she’d pull me aside during practice and tug at my sleeve to whisper something that she's noticed in my ear. Or when she and Suga would gossip and allow me to participate in listening. However, her voice then is more enticing and mesmerizing to the ear than it is now. Right now, her tone is a sound that I want to get far away from. It’s so dreary and off putting; I never want to hear it again.

I also don’t think I’ve ever seen [Last Name][Name] cry, before, either.

Her [E/C] irises shine brightly against her bloodshot sclera and swollen lids. Although she’s not crying now, it isn’t hard to tell that she had been not too long ago. Assumably right before I walked in on her and Kuroko. While I would never say she ever looks bad, I can’t say that seeing her in this light makes me feel very happy. I want to see one of those mad smiles she wears whenever she’s excited about a new challenge, or that flare that sparks up behind her eyes when she discovers something that catches her interest. Any of that which could’ve lingered in her face has been completely wiped away, her expression expressionless.

Once she straightens up from leaning over me, I feel as if I can finally breathe. I had hardly noticed I’d been holding it. [Name] sighs as Kuroko sits up and gives her space, which she takes to sit by the foot of the bed. We both look at her, somewhat nervously. She shrugs and gestures to the now open computer, a tab already displayed on the screen.

“Seeing as you guys were so curious. Go ahead…”

Glancing at Kuroko, he nods before leaning over to take a look at the screen. It seems to be an article of some sort. However, it’s written completely in English. While I’m not terrible at the subject, [Name]’s native language certainly isn’t my forte. I can pick out certain words; I spot her name more than a couple of times. However, other than that, I can barely make minimal sense of the wording at all. Understanding without even needing me to ask, Kuroko translates it aloud for me, speaking slowly in order to process the language himself.

“[Last Name] Seraphina reveals her true sentiments towards her only daughter’s disappearance. [Last Name][Name], well-renowned basketball player in America with a very promising future and unmatched potential has been MIA for several months, both in real life and on social media. For what reasons that the NBA scouted high school player has run off are still unbeknownst to both the public and [Name]’s own family; the only reason that her wellbeing has been confirmed stems from the note and additional voice recording she left for her elder brother, [Last Name] Laurence, before taking off. Of which he refuses to share with the general public, but does confirm that [Name] hadn’t gotten herself into a dangerous situation. 

“ESPN spoke with Laurence on [Name]’s disappearance not too long ago, but hasn’t managed to hear much from him since. According to Seraphina, who has been agreeing to talk with almost everyone about the issue at hand since the day [Name] disappeared, claims that Laurence has completely cut himself off from any distractions in order to find his sister. ‘He’s no longer attending basketball practices or attending his college classes. I hardly see him anymore, and when I do, he’s not in the mood to talk to me or anyone at all,” Seraphina informs our reporters grimly. ‘I’m severely worried for his health and the trauma that his sister may have caused him by running away. He’s both physically and mentally confused, right now’. We asked Seraphina for her thoughts on her daughter’s disappearance and what she may predict [Name]’s reasoning of leaving home to be.

Here’s what she had to say: ‘My daughter is going through a delicate stage in life right now. One I hoped I could manage to prevent her from ever experiencing; however, she is simply the polar opposite of her brother. Laurence managed to handle his teenage years in a mature manner, just as I had at their age. And now he’s more than successful, already recruited by the Lakers once he graduates from UCLA. My assumption can only be that his sister was intimidated by facing such adversity in order to obtain the same greatness, and instead of fighting it, she fled. I can admit that her perception of hardship is very similar to that of Rembrandt’s when I was dating him in our teenage youth; he also believed he deserved better for less compensation. Unlike her father, however, she fled instead of dealing with all that life is throwing at her. And although she remains to be so much like her father, I can state without a doubt that if Rembrandt were still here, he would not be proud of his daughter’s decision to run off as she had…”

Kuroko trails off, the last sentence stumbling clumsily off of his tongue. I, too, furrow my brow in disbelief at what I’m hearing. The words of such a highly acclaimed volleyball player, especially in the eyes of a fellow player like myself, to be so undermining to her own kin… And that last bit. No wonder Kuroko is struggling to continue translating for me. He appears just as shocked as I am, which is strange to see from such a composed individual.

“...You don’t have to read any further,” [Name]’s voice is barely even a whisper at this point, cutting out on certain syllables. It isn’t difficult to tell she’s holding back tears, the furrow in her twitching brow evident. Having been staring out the window at the rolling waves of the beach under the moonlight, [Name] slowly turns to look at us both, the dams beginning to give as she forces a crooked and shaky smile. “Isn’t she just wonderful?”

And those are the four words that do it. The catalyst to her utter and complete meltdown. Her smile flips in the blink of an eye as her top row of teeth dig into her bottom lip, brow furrowed and eyes squinting as she sniffs shakily, then proceeding to violently sob. Completely stunned, I sit glued to the chair, my heart ceasing to beat and my breath catching in my trachea, as if my lungs have paused all function temporarily. All I can hear for several excruciatingly long minutes are the strangled cries of [Last Name][Name], who painfully tries to remain quiet, failing miserably. 

Seeing as I am out of order for the time being, Kuroko takes charge, pulling [Name] into his arms, a hand on the back of her head as he sets the laptop aside. The girl curls into him like a terrified baby animal who’s just reunited with its mother. Her entire body wracks in sobs, shoulders shaking so drastically that I can’t help fear she’s seizing. I want to reach out and comfort her, to hold her and be the one who calms her down in this situation. However, I know that can never be me, sitting back and wallowing in my own self pity as Kuroko continues to rub soothing circles into the girl’s back.

After all that [Name] has made me out to be, what a pitiful captain I am.

“[Nickname]-chan-...”

“I-If you scroll j-just a bit further down i-in the article…. S-she publicly states that s-she’s called off the p-professional investigation towards f-finding me…” she cuts the phantom off, painfully laughing through her tears, almost sounding as if she’s hyperventilating. “S-She couldn’t e-even bring herself to s-say my name… Not o-once. I-In the entire a-article…”

Meeting my gaze for a minute, I can see that Kuroko is just as panicked as I am, hugging her a bit tighter. “I-I’m sorry, [Nickname]-chan. I-I… I don’t-....”

[Name]’s quick to cut him off yet again. “Please… j-just stop talking. I’m sorry, I-I don’t think I can h-handle it right now… just-... one of you please stay with me…”

Biting his lip, Kuroko thinks thoroughly about something for a moment, sitting completely still as [Name] trembles in his arms, her wails dying down to soft and shaky sobs. After a while, he nods, loosening his hold on her. “I’ll go fetch you something to eat, [Nickname]-chan. You need it after skipping dinner.”

“Y-You don’t ha-...”

“Yes, I do,” Kuroko reprimands rather sternly, a hand on her shoulder as he stands from the mattress, giving me an expectant look. “Daichi-senpai will keep you company in my stead.”

All of a sudden, reality comes crashing into me. My still heartbeat suddenly begins to pick up rapidly, threatening to rip right out of my chest. I begin to freak out mentally as Kuroko smiles down at [Name], wiping some tears from her eyes comfortingly. Before I can mentally prepare, he’s walking past me and towards the door. As he’s passing, he looks down at me ominously, as if warning me that if I fuck anything up, I’m dead meat. Despite the fact it would most likely be seen as disrespectful for a first year to act in such a way towards me, I can’t help but comply to it in the sake of [Name]. I shiver when I hear the door shut behind him, leaving me alone with a girl experiencing public neglect and verbal abuse by her own mother.

Damn it, what the hell do I do…?

Nervous, I sit in the chair in silence for a couple awkward moments, desperately wracking my own mind for something I can do or say to help her. My eyes begin to twitch as I continuously come up empty. In fact, I’m pondering so drastically that I barely even hear [Name] when she softly calls my name.

“Daichi-senpai...”

Eyes wide, I perk my head up swiftly to meet her bloodshot stare. “Y-Yes…?”

“You don’t have to say anything…” she assures me, despite the fact that I am not the one who needs comforting in this situation. She bites her lip tentatively. “A-And I know you a-aren’t very comfortable with me and my aloofness… s-so I won’t-...”

Before she can even stammer the last half of that sentence out of her trembling lips, I swiftly stand up from the desk chair and join her on the small and thin mattress. She shakily gasps as I place a hand on her lower back, pulling her into my body as I lay back to rest on the headboard. I use my remaining hand to protectively hold the back of her head, my calloused fingers sifting through her soft locks.

To my surprise, the pure element of surprise that came from my sudden action seems to have gotten the best of her tears; for a moment, at least. Once her wide eyes finally return to what can be described as a normal size, she turns to look up at me, her chin resting against my chest. “D-Daichi…”

My brow furrows as she stutters my name so gently, without an honorific, unintentionally holding her a bit tighter. “Yeah…?”

[Name]’s smile is small, and despite the trails of tears that slip down her cheeks, it is sorrowfully genuine and thankful. “Thank you…”

Not knowing what to say in return to this, I come up with the most comforting smile I can muster, focusing on keeping myself composed as she shifts to curl up into me, nuzzling her tearstained nose into the crook of my neck, her warm breath fanning my collarbone. A couple minutes of comfortable silence later, [Name] mumbles breathlessly into my neck:

“Let me throw a party before you all leave tomorrow…”

Unsure of how to respond to such a proposition, I glance down at her face to try and see what it is she’s thinking, only to find that she’s fallen asleep. I immediately grow stiff, scared that the slightest movement would wake her. I lay completely still, despite the growing discomfort in my left leg, which had fallen asleep beneath her a couple minutes ago.

Around ten minutes later, the door swings open to reveal Kuroko’s return, a plate consisting of some sort of sandwich and an assortment of fruit in his clutch. His gaze lands on [Name], sleeping on my chest with one of her legs thrown over mine. He blinks stoically. “Is she...?”

“Yeah…” I whisper.

Kuroko sighs, setting the plate down on her desk. “She really needed to eat. Her diet is too inconsistent in comparison to all the exercising she does. Skipping meals is extremely hazardous for her, yet I catch her doing it all the time.”

I lick my lip. “What do you want me to do now…?”

Kuroko takes a seat in the chair beside the bed, folding his arms. “We should be here for her if she needs us. Unless you need to get back to your team; you are captain, after all, so I could understand that. I can stay here with her on my own.”

Once again, I gaze down at her, barely being able to catch a glimpse of part of her forehead and eyebrows. I sigh, shaking my head as I stroke her hair. “I don’t want to move and risk waking her…”

Kuroko nods, the softest of smiles brushing his lips. “Get comfortable, then. We’ll be here all night….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna say it, y'all. I hate fanon Suga. You guys really made him out to be bland af. "Mom friend" this, "Mom of the team" that. Ew. We're talking about an eighteen year old high school boy, here. One who is equally as chaotic as Tanaka and just as sassy as Oikawa. He's not the one making sure his teammates are tucked into bed at 10:30 before preparing them little bentos for their next practice match. 
> 
> So, here's my take on Suga being Suga. You already know this man is cocky and flirtatious af. Also, whoever came up with the stoner Suga stereotype... chef's kiss I totally get those vibes from him. And I'm gonna say it: he 100% has a daddy kink. Whether he's on top or bottom, it doesn't matter; he wants to be called daddy. None of you can convince me otherwise. Like, I literally don't have a daddy kink and I still get those vibes from him.
> 
> Also, angst. Ew.


	27. Pink Whitney

Early the next morning, Kagami stands out in the hallway in his sleep clothes, scratching the back of his head as he lazily brushes his teeth. He scowls at his own reflection in the mirror, his right arm already aching due to the simple action of relieving the itch on his scalp. The training he had gone through on the first day of this camp alone has already taken its toll on his body. 

With a scoff, he spits out his toothpaste and rinses it out in the sink, taking a swallow of tap water to rinse out his mouth with. Swishing the cool liquid back and forth, he leans over and spits it back into the sink once he’s satisfied.

He wasn’t exactly expecting Kuroko to do the same thing simultaneously beside him.

Kagami jumps back in shock, calming his nerves as he yells. “Do you do that on purpose, bastard!?”  
“Good morning,” is Kuroko’s simple response, toothbrush in hand. 

“Jesus Christ, and your hair!” Kagami points out the bluette’s wild bedhead, tufts of it sticking out in random directions, like the bristles of a dry paint brush. “I didn’t even see you in your futon when I woke up this morning.”

“I woke up early,” the lie comes easily to Kuroko as he pats at his hair self consciously. “And you were already asleep by the time I returned from my bath.”

Before Kagami is able to retort any further on the matter, he’s cut off by and oddly familiar voice. “This place is a dump. Are we really staying here? Geez, I feel like I might run across a fucking ghost in the showers or something…”

“Shut up, nandayo, Takao.”

Kagami and Kuroko watch in silent shock as Takao and Midorima of Shutoku so casually stroll by them and the sinks, wide-eyed and speechless. The two players in orange double take, as well, also coming to the stunning realization of the situation at hand, facing the familiar duo beside them.

Kuroko gets over his shock quickly. “Good morning. It’s nice to see you again.”

Meanwhile, the other three don’t appear to be adjusting as quickly. Midorima, specifically, points out Kagami with disdain. “What the hell are you doing here!?”

“I could ask you the same thing!” Kagami snaps back, smacking the shooter’s taped fingers out of his face. 

“Shutoku has a long standing tradition of coming here during the summer,” Takao explains after gathering his own composure, a hand on his hip. 

“And here you are, enjoying your vacation like dwindling fools!” Midorima barks distastefully. “What’s with the tan, moron!? Enjoying yourself?”

“We’re not on vacation!” Kagami retorts hastily. 

Eyes wide, Midorima isn’t even given the chance to question the redhead, for a flurry of [H/C] hair zips between him and Takao, ducking behind Kagami in the blink of an eye. They all watch with bated breaths as [Name] peaks out from behind the large ace, fear in her eyes as she clutches his forearm. Her shoulders heave, apparently short of breath for some unknown reason.

“[Name]? What the fuck are-...”

“Taiga, you’ve gotta help me,” she pants, hugging his side with a horrid expression, pink travel toothbrush in her grasp. “She’s gonna kill me…”

“What are you going on about?”

Just as [Name]’s about to explain, she shrieks and points down the hall with a shaky hand. And there, rounding the corner, Riko carries a large cooking knife covered in a sticky red substance, which also splotches the front of her apron and her face. “Oi. Where’s [Name]-chan? I need her help in the kitchen. I made a complete mess of the jam.”

“J-Jam!?” Kagami shouts, understanding the urgency in [Name]’s tone, now.

“Go get Hyuga to clean it up for you, Riko-chan!” [Name] barks from behind Kagami. “I still have to brush my teeth!”

Riko huffs, stomping a foot. “Fine. But you’re doing the first round of stretches again, today.”

“Fine!” [Name] agrees, letting out a sigh of relief as the couch heads back towards the kitchen. It isn’t until then that she acknowledges the additional two boys in her presence. “Oh! Kazu-chan! Mido-kun! Crazy to see the two of you here.”

“[Name]-chan!” Takao greets with wide arms and a sleazy grin, to which she returns with an embrace and a laugh.

Kagami and Midorima watch the scene play out with wrinkled noses of disgust, the former speaking up. “Say, [Name]; weren’t you the one who helped coach select this location for training?”

Said manager glances over her shoulder. “Mm hmm. Why do you ask?”

The redhead’s brow twitches, clearly irritated by her feign of innocence from Takao’s arms. “What’s this about this specific beach being Shutoku’s traditional training camp location? As in they come here every year?”

Sticking out her tongue stupidly, [Name] shugs. “Oh? They do? What a crazy coincidence, am I right?”

With the sarcasm oozing from her tone, Kagami jabs at her head, attempting to snag a fistful of her already messy hair to ruffle up, only to have her step just outside of his reach. Desperate to escape the situation, [Name] looks for an outlet, finding one quickly. “Daichi-senpai! Let’s brush our teeth together!”

The girl runs after the Karasuno captain, waving at him as he rubs his eyes tiredly. When he sees her running towards him, he smiles at her warmly, feeling lifted by her voice. He glances over her, making eye contact with Kuroko briefly. They wordlessly nod to one another in a subtle manner, and after that, [Name] and Daichi walk off together, chatting merrily.

“Who’s that?” Midorima groans, fixing his glasses as he warily eyes the captain talking to [Name].

“One of the guys from the volleyball team that [Name] helps out with from time-to-time,” Kagami grunts, putting his hands on his hips. “It’s rather stupid, really. Three teams of volleyball idiots followed her here for the weekend, it seems.”

“Don’t speak of them that way,” Kuroko reprimands softly, flicking a strand of hair out of his face. “[Name]-chan respects them a lot. So we should, too.”

“Three teams?” Midorima repeats, glancing in the direction that [Name] had run off in with that thick-bodied volleyball player. “How annoying.”

“Sounds a lot more fun to me. I mean, with just us here it would’ve been boring,” Takao grins, running a hand through his raven tresses. “Lucky for us, you two have got your hands on the most cunning manager possible. How the hell did she figure out the exact week Shutoku was gonna be holding their training camp here, huh? It’s quite apparent she planned it. She’s a sly little fox, I’d say.”

“Sly indeed,” Kagami and Midorima agree, gritting their teeth in annoyance.

Daichi accompanies [Name] down to the kitchen after she brushes her teeth, speaking to her only about topics that she first brings to the forefront. He doesn’t mention at all a single occurrence from last night, based on Kuroko’s advice for him not to do so. And as he listens to [Name] ramble on about the players on this new team who had shown up to the inn for their own training camp, he finally begins to understand what the bluette had meant by how well she can conceal her true nature.

Her smile doesn’t look any less radiant than it did the day before.

As they arrive to the cafeteria, they’re immediately greeted by the two other volleyball captains, loitering beside the doorway. [Name] waves. “Good morning, Kuroo-kun! Bokkun!”

“Morning,” Kuroo slurs with a smirk.

“Good morning, [Name]-chan!” Bokuto greets loudly.

She separates herself from her friends in order to speak with Ostubo, the captain of Shutoku, and explain to him the situation at hand. After a lot of repeating herself and brushing off Takao’s flirtatious advances innocently, she also announces something to the newest team to arrive at the beach.

“I know it’s your first day getting here and you all are probably in that hard work mindset already, but for all of my volleyball friends, it’s already their last,” she informs them. “They leave tomorrow morning before training even begins. So, I’m in favor of throwing a beach party for them before they all head out. A real party. You guys are more than welcome to come if you’d like. Tell me what it is that you want and I’ll get it for you.”

Otsubo’s eyes widen. “By anything, you mean...?”

[Name] grins wickedly. “Anything. Even if you don’t want anything at all, I’m getting stuff for myself.”

“And what about the coaches? Won’t they find out?” Otsubo responsibly asks another question; what a mindful captain he is being. 

“No need to worry. I’ve got that covered, too. They’ll be taken care of,” she reassures. “Now, if you plan on coming and want any alcohol or edibles or anything, I need to know before training begins. I’ll be making rounds during breakfast to get everyone’s answer. And everything is on me, no need to worry about price.”

Takao exhibits no hesitation, grinning widely as he cheers. “Thank god you’re throwing a party, [Name]-chan! I’m so tired of boring old Shin-chan. I need a good old-fashioned party. I’ll take a case of beers. Any kind, I really don’t care.”

Pulling out her phone, [Name] adds the case to her notes app. “Got it. Anything else while I’m still here?”

“You said anything, right?” Miyaji is the next to speak up.

She nods. “As long as it isn’t hardcore, yeah.”

“Is stuff for blunts too much?” he wonders softly.

“Absolutely not,” the girl grins. “I’m getting rounds of eddys as well as plenty of weed for blunts and joints and such. I’ll make sure to set some aside for you, Miyaji-senpai.”

“Me too, [Name]-chan!” Takao adds, receiving a nod from the manager.

[Name] wraps up her orders from the Shutoku guys, having added a lot of alcoholic substances to her list by the time she’d moved on, despite the majority of the team seeming rather opposed to the party at first. She was most surprised, however, when Midorima had grabbed her by the wrist just as she was leaving, pulling her ear down to where he sat at a table so that he could whisper into her ear:

“Get me a case of natty lights, nanodayo.”

It’s difficult for [Name] to pick out which boys on which team have consumed alcohol before or not. Which ones have attended parties and which ones have smoked. Some of them were pretty obvious, while others were a bit more… obscure. Midorima definitely took her by surprise at first, but after thinking about it awhile, the idea of the greenette attending a party and silently drinking beer in the midst of the mayhem just made sense.

For the most part, she already knows the drinking and smoking habits of the majority of two certain teams. All of the boys on Seirin have spent weeknights at her house partaking in such forbidden substances before; they feel safe whenever they’re in her hands. As for Karasuno, she’s provided alcohol to a few of them, but certainly hasn’t gotten everyone’s opinion on the matter of the party.

Whilst brushing her teeth this morning, [Name] went over her plan with Daichi, hoping to get feedback from him. The captain had been rather taken aback by the mention of alcohol, at first, then remembered how literally everyone on this trip is a high schooler. It isn’t as if he’s never attended a few house parties before himself.

He didn’t want to admit to [Name] he’s never smoked before, for some reason, though.

However, he couldn’t really hide that much when she had asked him the very question he’d been avoiding. “Have you ever smoked weed before, Daichi-senpai?”

The captain had spit out his toothpaste in a bit of shock. “U-Um, well… not weed, no…”

His tone was so soft that [Name] instinctively lowered hers to match it. “Oh… cigarettes, then?”

“Well, once or twice, yeah.”

“I personally don’t smoke them, but have nothing against you if you want me to pick a pack up for you in my order,” she offers, her smile sweet and genuine.

“No, that’s all right, [Name]-san,” Daichi shakes his head, feeling insanely awkward and borderline embarrassed to be asking his underclassman something such as what he’s about to: “D-Do you think t-that you could, um…”

[Name] grins, immediately understanding before he even has to ask. “I’ll roll a blunt for you, Daichi-senpai. No worries.”

And if he thought the question was any embarrassing before, he can’t imagine why he found her answer to it to be so fucking attractive.

So, now, as [Name] is making her rounds through the Karasuno table, she’s quick to skip over Daichi, having gotten his requests earlier that morning. She first slides into a seat next to Tanaka, bumping shoulders with him in a playful manner.

“Oi, [Name]-san!” he greets loudly with a bashful grin. “Good morning!”

“Morning!” she chirps back jubilantly, setting her phone down on the table. “I have an exciting announcement to make to you all, Tanaka-senpai.”

“Oh? Is that so?” his eyes are wide before he grins toothily, facing the boisterous table he sits at. “Oi! Everyone shut up for a second! [Name]-san’s got something to say!”

At Tanaka’s piercing volume, the rowdy table of boys pipes down, heads turning to the end where [Name] sits patiently. A few of them beam at the sight of her, greeting her for the first time that morning.

“[Name]-chan!” Hinata waves.

“Good morning!” Nishinoya adds brightly. 

Asahi takes a seat across from the girl, having just served himself breakfast. He smiles at her. “Good morning, [Name]-san.”

Her smile is as radiant as the rising sun outside, reflecting over the placid rolling waves. “Good morning, everyone! I have an exciting announcement for you all!”

“What is it?” Ennoshita asks, smiling as he rests his cheek against his palm.

"Party tonight after dinner. I'm providing," she announces with a grin.

The news attracts a wide range of reactions from the team of black and orange. Some immediately understand what's going down; Tanaka and Nishinoya jump up with a cheer, slapping their palms together in an intense high-five. Suga also beams in excitement, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms over his head. Asahi and Yamaguchi seem a bit confused by the commotion, Kageyama and Tsukishima both barking at Hinata to calm down as he joins his two upperclassmen in celebrating the announcement of the spectacle. Ennoshita, Narita, and Kinnoshita are the ones to calm the ruckus down, chatting excitedly among one another about what they ought to get for tonight. Daichi watches his team with an amused smile, stealing a glance at [Name] just to notice her expression matches his.

"You're providing, you said?" Suga wiggles his eyebrows in a mischievous manner.

"You bet," [Name] confirms.

"All right, but I'm paying you back sometime."

"I'll take you up on that in a heartbeat. Don't hesitate to call," she winks in response.

Suga grins wickedly at this; it seems after yesterday, [Name] has challenged him even more headstrong than before. And now that she's aware she has a worthy opponent, she isn't going to let up. Seems Suga has become her new plaything in Kageyama's place. The oblivious ravenette will at least be at peace for the rest of the trip. Hopefully.

Suga leans into his palm, not breaking eye contact as he smirks at her. He doesn't care that everyone can hear their conversation; in fact, it riles him up to get under her skin even more. "All right. My place. After the Inter-High."

"Your place," she agrees, unfazed by his tone. Asahi and Daichi, however, are floored by the usually respectful boy's blatancy. "I've already taken the liberty of getting you a leaf and bud, Suga. Anything to drink?"

"High Noons, please."

"Right. Who's next?" [Name] grins as she looks up from her phone. If anyone on the team hadn't known what kind of party this was going to be before, they sure as hell do now. 

Ennoshita doesn't waste his breath, lightly grasping her thin wrist inside his rough palm, his calloused fingers overlapping as he pulls her towards his seat so that she can more easily hear him amongst the rowdy environment of the cafeteria. "Twisted teas for me, please. And I don't think I'll smoke, tonight, but I'll take an edible if you're getting them."

"Of course I'm getting edibles. What kind of party host do you take me for?" [Name] feigns offense before turning to Narita and Kinnoshita. "And for my other two favorite second years?"

"White claws and a blunt for me, please," Kinnoshita smiles sheepishly, scratching behind his ear with his index finger.

"I don't think I'll drink, but I wouldn't mind a joint," Narita adds with his gentle smile.

"Ask and you shall receive," [Name] writes the requests down with all the others. "I'll be sure to get you guys all your stuff tonight. Remember what it is you got so that you can tell me later; I'm getting so much that I'm bound to forget whose is whose."

"No problem," Ennoshita replies huskily, dropping her wrist and returning to his conversation.

Sitting nearest by is Asahi, poking at his scrambled egg. Licking her lips, [Name] very lightly and playfully pulls at his man bun, cocking his head back on his neck until he's looking straight up. She leans over him and smiles, her face upside-down in his perspective as her [H/C] locks tickle his cheeks. 

"Would you like anything, Asahi-senpai?" [Name] chirps kindly. 

"Um... Well, I-..." he bites his lip, prying his eyes off of her upside-down smile, just as sweet as it is right-side up. "I usually don't-..."

"Ah, stop being such a little bitch!" Suga groans, lightly chopping the ace on his left bicep. "He likes beer, [Name]-san. Get him some beer."

She snorts at this, returning her gaze to Asahi. "If so, what kind?"

"Any. I don't really care..." he answers half-heartedly.

In response to which, [Name] claps him on the back with a playful smile. "Ah, stop being so afraid to speak your mind, Asahi-senpai! You lack the backbone that you very clearly have."

Said wing spiker blushes as the girl pokes at his firm back muscles, sighing softly. "Right. I'll take a joint, too, please."

At this, [Name]'s eyes widen. "Wait, you smoke!?"

"Y-Yeah. With Suga..."

Getting over her shock, the manager quickly imagines this: Asahi sitting in Suga's room with bloodshot eyes and a feint scent of marijuanna on his oversized grandpa sweater, hair pulled out of his face and cross necklace askew on his collarbone as he smokes his abnormal anxiety away. She then nods. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense. I'll be sure to get that for you, Asahi-senpai."

"Thank you, [Name]-san."

"Don't mention it, lover," she teases before turning to walk to other side of the table; only to come nose-to-nose with Nishinoya. "Oh!"

"[Name]-san! I want that stuff you gave to me after the first time I came to your room for extra help during exams!" he announces extremely loud; seeing as some of the coaches were beginning to gather into the cafeteria for breakfast, [Name] hurries to quiet him down. "The pink stuff!"

It doesn't take a lot of cognitive power for [Name] to remember the exact night Nishinoya's referring to. It was her fourth day dragging the stupidest lot of teenage boys she's ever come into contact with back to her place for a group studying session. That day they had been focusing on Japanese Literature.

This happens to be one of Nishinoya's least favorite subject. Despite hating every single aspect of school curriculum in general, he especially hated work in which he has to direct his entire attention to. Therefore, silent reading and answering questions based off of what it is he's read isn't quite his strong suit. 

Not having gotten far during their actual study session, Nishinoya had cracked open his practice exam at the desk in his guest bedroom. And for an entire hour beneath the lamplight, he attempted to work through a singular passage [Name] has provided him with to aid him answer a total of six separate questions. And for this entire hour, he found himself rereading the same lines over and over again, only to retain not an ounce of information from any of it and eventually giving up.

Then he recalled Yaku Morisuke's astounding receives back in his practice match against Nekoma. He terribly wanted to learn from watching him again in Tokyo. Remembering [Name]'s restless sleep schedule, Nishinoya pondered visiting her room to see if she's awake. Maybe she could help him out a bit.

And that was the first night the Karasuno libero sought out additional help from [Last Name][Name].

She had welcomed him into her room rather eagerly after he knocked, practice exam in hand. Her LED lights were red. She wore a cropped black tank top and a pair of gray sleep shorts, fitting loosely around her hips. Her hair was still slightly damp from her shower. 

Barely half an hour later on her bed, [Name] quickly realized that she was going to get nowhere with Nishinoya if she kept steering him in the direction they'd been going. He simply must learn in a different way; perhaps like Kagami, who learned historical dates and mathematical equations through different basketball plays. However, she couldn't think of anything to use in a similar way for Nishinoya. Besides, his issue wasn't memorization, but rather, concentration. 

"Ahhhhhhhh, I can't sit still! My back hurts!" the second year whined, rolling around on her bed childishly.

Brow twitching slightly as she grew more and more irritated by his lack of cooperation, [Name] took a deep breath to calm her nerves and dealt with the situation in a professional and mature manner. Glancing at her nightstand, she quickly snatched the half-dranken bottle of Pink Whitney and unscrewed the top. Grabbing Nishinoya by the jaw with one hand, she ordered him to open his mouth.

With such authority in her tone and tenderness in her squeezing fingertips beneath the sensual red hues of the LED lights above, Nishinoya couldn't possibly imagine refusing.

He swallowed the liquor as [Name] carefully trickled it in his mouth. And once she'd decided he'd had enough, she swiped his lips with her thumb and returned the bottle to her nightstand. Nishinoya watched with wide eyes as she did, his heart threatening to thump straight out of his chest. He felt it beating against his ribcage, his breath falling somewhat short as he swallowed the last bit of alcohol in the back of his throat. He squeezed his legs together and shifted uncomfortably, feeling a tingling in the base of his spine.

He could only be incredibly grateful for the red LED lights above: both for the fact that they set an incredibly sensual mood between himself and the girl before him as well as for the fact that they concealed his extremely flagrant face. 

"That ought to calm your nerves a bit," [Name] sighed, returning to her sweet and patient smile. 

"I've never had that kind of alcohol before. It didn't taste very strong...Is it like a white claw?" 

At this question, [Name] snorted. "Oh, no, babe. That shit is 60 proof."

Nishinoya choked on his own air intake, eyes watering in pure shock. "60!? How much of that did I drink!? It tasted like lemonade!"

"Don't worry. I only gave you a little more than a shot's worth," she comforted him with an amused giggle. "Just to take the edge off. Now, while it starts to settle into your system, it's up to me to come up with a better way to teach you this material."

Unsure of how to respond to that, Nishinoya leaned back and relaxed, allowing for the alcohol to do just as [Name] wanted it to do. Besides, he hadn't had anywhere near enough to drive him over the edge (thank the heavens, for he's a completely separate beast when he's drunk), so the shot did begin to wind him down a bit. He glanced at the bottle of pink liquid by [Name]'s bed; he'd never heard of it before. It looked almost too girly for him to ever even consider drinking. Like it would be a fruity little 12 proof or something like that. It isn't as if it's an 80 proof vodka or anything, but 60...?

That bottle of pink liquor was hella dangerous. 

Around a moment later, [Name] suddenly snapped her fingers, gaining Nishinoya's attention once more. After another moment of silence, he arched a brow. "What is it?"

"Noya-senpai: What's your favorite color?" she had asked suddenly.

Blinking perplexedly, his breath hitched. "O-Orange. Why?"

Without even bothering to respond, [Name] leapt from her bed and ambled over to her desk, scrambling through her chaotically organized drawers for something in particular. Nishinoya sat up to watch her, feeling the soft buzz of alcohol in the farthest corner of his skull, effectively mellowed out at this point. His eyes lazily drifted from her bare lower back to the hem of her loose gray shorts, staring shamelessly until she had turned around a moment later. His eyes fluttered back up to her face.

She brandished an orange pen towards him with a grin. "Here!"

He casually took it. "What's this for?"

"Studies show that students study more effectively when reading and writing in colors that bring them joy or spark interest within them," [Name] explained quickly as she scrambled back onto the bed, pointing to the passage he'd previously been stuck on. "Now, why don't we try this again?"

And the remaining two hours that Nishinoya spent with [Name] in her room that night, Pink Whitney in his system and orange pen in hand, were the sole reason he was able to pass his Japanese Literature exam and attend the Tokyo Away Games in the first place.

[Name] had even let him keep the pen.

"Pink Whitney?" she clarifies for him, the libero nodding feverishly. "I planned on getting a bottle or two. I'll be sure that there's enough for you, too, Noya-senpai."

"Thank you!" he bows giddily, bouncing on his heels to release all his pent up excitement.

Thoroughly amused by the childlike behavior the libero before her exhibits, [Name] is suddenly trapped between Tanaka's strong right arm and his chest, his left hand ruffling up her hair with a mischievous grin. "Oi!"

He let's her go as she struggles, standing tall with his hands on his hips as he proudly announces, "I would like two edibles, [Name]-san!"

Said girl gazes up at him. "No."

"Wha-!? Why not...?"

"Not two. Just one," she corrects him with a knowing smile. "You won't be needing any more than that, trust me."

He crosses his arms and huffs. "Fine. If you say so. And I'll just drink whatever Noya-san's drinking."

[Name] beams. "Sure thing. Anyone else have requests for me?"

As she looks around the table, Yamaguchi waves her over in a very timid fashion. Grinning, she rounds the corner and squeezes onto the bench between Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, much to the latter's irritation. [Name] ignores the annoyed trill of said blond's tongue and beams at his childhood friend. "[Name]-san, could Tsukki and I have one edible each?"

Before she can comply, Tsukishima tugs on her earlobe from behind. "Tch. I don't want an edible."

[Name] smacks his hand away, granting relief to her aching ear. "Then tell me what you want so that Yama-san doesn't have to. You're a big boy, you can use your words."

Brows furrowed, Tsukishima rolls his eyes and flicks her forehead. "Watch your tongue, pip-squeak. I want a joint; not a blunt. And I can roll it myself."

"Ah, yes. Of course you can," she snorts mockingly. "Anything to drink, then?"

"No."

"How about you, Yama-san?"

Yamaguchi's eyes widen, and he thinks a moment before hesitantly saying, "No thank you."

As [Name] stands to move on, the rapid waving of a palm to her right catches her attention. She glances over at a very nervous looking Hinata, who seems to be trying to dodge Kageyama's not-so-subtle jabs to the side beside him. They appear to be arguing about something under their breath, glancing back and forth between each other before then to [Name] once more. Both amused and intrigued, she sits between them.

"What can I do for you, Hina-chan?"

He flushes softly at her words, her tone somewhat soft, seeing as he appears to be outwardly anxious about something. He clears his throat. "[N-Name]-chan-... I-I... I..."

She arches a brow, lowering her voice even further in order to add another level of privacy to their conversation, despite Kageyama hearing every word regardless. "What's the matter? 

"It's just-... um..."

"Spit it out already," Kageyama rolls his eyes impatiently.

This triggers aggression in the ginger on the other side of [Name], who glares at the ravenette. "Would you just shut up for one second, Kageyama-..."

Kageyama reaches an arm over [Name] in order to close a palm around Hinata's mouth, effectively silencing his complaints. He gazes down at the girl between him and his victim. "He's never been to a party before."

"Oh. Is that what you were worried about telling me?" she asks Hinata as Kageyama finally lets him go. 

After shooting one last glare at his setter, Hinata sighs, averting his gaze. "It's embarrassing..."

"No, no. Not at all," [Name] comforts him with a bright smile, resting her hand on his shoulder. "There's no need to worry. I'll make sure this is the best first party you could've ever imagined attending. And remember, you don't have to do anything you don't want to if you aren't ready. No one will think of you any different."

Eyes wide, Hinata takes a moment to process the borderline angel's words as she sits before him, soothingly stroking his bare shoulder. He bites his lip softly, scraping at the layer of dry skin beneath his teeth. "I-I think I want to try, but..."

After he doesn't say anything for a moment, [Name] takes a shot in the dark. "You don't know where to start?"

He says nothing; only nods.

"Well then I'd be more than happy to help you out!" she chirps, setting her phone aside for the moment and facing him fully on the bench, one leg on either side as she straddles it. "Assuming you've never been drunk or high before, I'll try to explain the different experiences for you. Enough alcohol is going to put you into a state of disorientation, but a very enjoyable one. You won't be thinking about why you're having so much fun and instead just experience it to the fullest extent. Being drunk is like living a couple hours without a care in the world. The hangovers can suck, depending on the circumstances, but I've got more than enough ways to prevent you from having one that's too miserable."

"Okay..." Hinata nods, indicating he's listening intently.

"Being high, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. You feel absolutely weightless and just... how do I put this? It's almost....freeing? I really don't know how to describe it other than being hella enjoyable. Everything is just ten times more entertaining and easier to think about. And I personally love the feeling of how prickly and weightless my limbs feel when I smoke; I feel like that's a sensation you'd enjoy, too."

Kageyama, who's been listening casually whilst eating, nods. "Yeah, but I bet he wouldn't shut up about it. He gets too excited and asks too many questions."

[Name] hushes him with a light chop to the back of his head. "Leave him and his first time jitters alone, Tobio. Well, that's how I can describe those two things. Of course there's being crossed, as well, but I don't think you should get crossed for your first ever party. And I understand if you're scared and don't want to partake in anything; I won't push it onto you. Just know that everything will be 100% safe and I will personally ensure you're experiencing the party to the fullest whilst simultaneously being cautious."

"I definitely think I want to try both..." Hinata decides after a moment. "So I guess I'll start with drinking! I trust your judgement, [Name]-chan. It sounds really fun!"

"All right! I'll start you off with something easy for tonight, then, seeing as we have no idea what your tolerance is...." [Name] grabs her phone, flicking through some of the drinks already written in her notes app. "I suppose a case of Mike's should do the trick for you."

"What are those?"

"Hard lemonades," Kageyama answers in [Name]'s stead, taking a swig from his milk glass. "They're sweet but aren't very strong."

"Oh. Okay!" Hinata lights up at the thought of alcohol not having the stinging aftertaste that he always thought it had thanks to the depictions of it through media. 

"I'll be sure to keep an eye on you tonight, Hina-chan. I promise, it will be so much fun!" [Name] pinches his cheek before then turning to face Kageyama. "And you, then?"

He eyes her for the lack of formality, but does nothing to address it as he continue to shovel scrambled egg into his mouth. "Just get a bottle of blueberry Smirnoff for me with some kind of chaser. I don't feel like drinking anything too sugary tonight."

"Straight for the liquor. My kinda guy," [Name] grins.

Kageyama rolls his eyes, but smirks subtly nonetheless. "And you don't need to get me anything to smoke. I'll just fiend off of someone else if I'm in the mood. But a whole blunt on me would be a waste."

"Gotcha. Feel free to take puffs of whatever I decide to roll myself later. I don't mind people fiending off me," she winks before standing and ensuring she's made rounds with everyone at the Karasuno table. She locks eyes with Daichi and sends him a playful salute. "Good to go for tonight."

"I hope you can help me keep these animals in check," he sighs, but seems excited regardless. 

[Name] swiftly moves onto the next table; Nekoma.

None of them really notice as she stalks over, at first. They're as rowdy as ever, after all. Yaku seems to be stuffing Lev's face into a bowl of oatmeal for some reason while simultaneously bickering with Kuroo. They shout remarks at one in other in terms that [Name] can't quite comprehend whether they're supposed to be insults or not. Yamamoto, Inuoka, and Shibayama are all talking excitedly about something, impressively louder than the rest. Kai and Fukunaga seem to be conversing normally enough amongst the chaos, dining on their fruit and waffles as if they've completely accommodated to this sort of atmosphere.

All but one of them, it seems.

[Name] slips onto the bench beside Kenma, who happens to be silently playing on his PSP, an untouched bowl of cereal before him. He barely stirs when the girl moves beside him, glancing up at her briefly before turning his attention back to his game. She smiles, knowing that since he glanced at her, he's listening.

"Good morning, Kenma!"

"Morning..." his tone is a bit croaky, as if this was the first word he's used his vocal cords to utter since waking up.

"I figured I'd come ask you before everyone else, seeing as it's a bit... energetic, over here," she chuckles humorlessly. "In any case, I'm throwing a beach party tonight for all the teams. And since I'm providing, I was wondering if you wanted anything for it."

Kenma's brows have been furrowed a bit more intently than typical after the word 'party' rolled off of [Name]'s tongue. He licks his lips slightly, squinting at his gaming screen. "Do I have to go, [Name]?"

"Hm. No, of course not. What gave you that idea?"

"Kuroo tends to drag me to house parties with him every other week...."

"Is that so?" she hums, scratching her cheek. "You don't have to go if you don't want to. I just wanted to do one last fun thing with you all before you leave tomorrow morning. If you'd rather stay in, I completely understand."

Kenma processes her words; it's true that he's probably not going to see [Name] again for a very long time. And that's even if she decides to tag along with Karasuno to Nationals next spring. And two more 'if's on top of that, it all depends on both Karasuno's and Nekoma's teams making it through the qualifiers in the first place, which is no easy feat in itself. 

With a deep inhale, he sighs through his nose. "I'll take a joint if you're buying, [Name]."

She grins at this information. "Anything for you, Kenma."

These four words are enough to pry Kenma's eyes away from his game; he could hear the way she was smiling just by the tone and lilt of her voice, and he couldn't resist the urge to gaze upon it himself. To his dismay, however, she's already turned to speak to Kai and Fukunaga about her plans tonight, leaving Kenma to his own devices. He eyes the back of her head for a moment, feeling a sense of weightlessness in the base of his spine, before turning back to his PSP. He clicks his tongue the instant he recognizes the "Game Over" screen before him.

"Shit..."

The table only continues to increase in volume at the realization of [Name]'s presence. And as Nekoma becomes rowdier and more energetic, that can only mean attracting the equally chaotic Bokuto to the mayhem, a sleep-deprived and burnt out Akaashi tailing after him reluctantly to keep him out of trouble. 

"HEY HEY HEY!" the ace interjects as [Name] and Kuroo are discussing drinks for the party that night.

"Oh. Good morning, Bokkun," the latter glances over her shoulder with a smile. "What perfect timing. I was about to come to you for some favors."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Bokuto's chest swells, all of a sudden feeling more important.

"Well, you see, I'm throwing a party tonight, and-..."

"[Name]-chan is throwing a party!" Kuroo interrupts with the wildest of grins; [Name] honestly can't think of a time she's seen such childlike excitement on his face.

"A PARTY!?"

"Well, yes-..."

"WE'RE GONNA GET DRUNK AS FUCK, BRO."

"NO WAY, BRO!" Bokuto pumps his fists into the air. "WHAT ARE WE DRINKING?"

"Well, I was just talking to [Name]-chan about maybe getting a keg..."

"And I told him I don't know if it's the best idea..." she begins, trailing off when Bokuto suddenly drops to his knees before her, grasping both her hands within his. 

"[Name]-chan..." his eyes grow wide as saucers, gleaming as he begs and pleads. "Please...?"

Biting her lip, she gives in much quicker than she ever could've imagined, smiling softly. "All right... I'm just going to have to keep an extra eye on the two of you, tonight..."

"ALL RIGHT!"

As the two imbeciles celebrate their victory with one another, [Name] glances at Akaashi to her left, shooting him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Akaashi-senpai. It seems I may have just placed a bit more of a burden onto your shoulders tonight..."

He sighs, his smile soft and cool as he locks eyes with her. "It's no problem. He'll be fine; I've seen him down a lot more than just half a keg with Kuroo-san."

"Sounds like a hell of a time," she giggles, turning to face him fully. "As for that favor I wanted before, it seems your hands are leagues more responsible to place them in. If you could just inform the rest of your Fukurodani team members about the party tonight and ask them what drinks or hookups they want. All bills are on me, so don't let them think about numbers."

"But, [Name]-san..." Akaashi's eyes are ever-so-slightly widened. "None of that kind of stuff is cheap..."

"And neither am I," she winks scandalously before patting his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Just get everything you all need written down somewhere for me so that I can pick it all up before tonight, m'kay?"

Akaashi sighs, leaving Bokuto with Kuroo as he heads back towards the Fukurodani table. "All right, then. Give me a moment or two."

With a playful salute, [Name] moves towards Seirin's table. "Knew I could count on you!"

Before she can even approach the bench, the manager is snatched by her shoulders and dragged towards her team by Koganei, a mischievous gleam in his catlike eyes. He leans over her shoulder from behind. "[Name]-chan... What's this I've been hearing about a party from the Shutoku guys, hmm?"

Izuki's quick to join, slinging an arm around her waist and resting his chin on her collarbone. "Yeah. Takao won't stop rattling his teeth off about it. Is it true?"

"Well, I always live up to expectations, do I not?" [Name] answers confidently, brushing them off as she takes a seat at the table between Riko and Mitobe, finally able to start her breakfast. "I've already taken the liberty to order everything you all will need for tonight. After all, I know your preferences well enough, by now."

Izuki and Koganei blink as she shovels pancakes onto her plate, beginning to devour the stack. Fukuda, Furihata, and Kawohara even begin to tear up at the sight of her. "Y-You remembered all of our favorite drinks!?"

She nearly chokes at the sheer pitch of the question, pulling her fork out of her mouth. "Well, yeah... I'm your manager. I'm supposed to be observant."

"With basketball. Not liquor and drugs, moron," Hyuga teases.

"Well, then, as your friend," she corrects with a shrug and a showstopping smile that brings a hint of blush to even Kagami's cheeks. 

"Well, friend," Riko playfully tugs at [Name]'s hair beside her. "Does that mean you remembered to get my-..."

"Yes, Riko-chan, I got you your nasty ass Crispins," she answers before the coach can even finish her question. "Honestly, did you have to bring them up while I'm eating? I feel nauseous just thinking about them."

"Oh, come on! They're good and you know it!"

"No. I know a lot of things, but nothing like those foul concoctions," the manager continues to argue, taking a gulp of her orange juice. "They taste god awful and only have a proof of like, what? 5%? I'd need to down five of those just to feel something and they sure as hell aren't worth that process."

"I like them! They're sweet!"

"No! They taste like battery acid mixed with artificial sweetener with no result to show for it! Honestly, I can't fathom why you like them so much. They're loaded with sugar! Doesn't that stray away from your brand of health and fitness, coach?"

"S-Shut up!"

"Sorry for simply stating facts," [Name] sighs with a shrug, picking up her tray and heading back towards the kitchen. "I'm going to go get some hash browns. Save my seat."

As Riko continues to grumble in her seat, being ruthlessly teased by her fellow second years, [Name] nearly runs into Kiyoko and Yachi as they walk out of the kitchen, their own trays in hand. Eyes wide, Kiyoko reaches out and grips [Name]'s shoulder in order to stabilize herself from slipping and falling, which would've sent her tray of breakfast flying. 

"[Name]-chan," the ravenette greets warmly. "Good morning."

"Ah, Kiyoko-chan! Perfect timing!" she grins, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. "I was just about to text you and Hitoka-chan! I'm throwing a party tonight; I'm sure you'll hear all about it once you get back to the table, but I was wondering if you guys would like anything to drink or smoke?"

Yachi watches in horror as [Name] and Kiyoko converse so casually about such illegal activities. With both of their beautiful smiles, nonetheless, as if they aren't talking about committing underage crimes like they were as simple as crossing the street or stapling a stack of papers. Kiyoko begins to list off the drinks she wants; Pink Whitney, Smirnoff Ices... Yachi hasn't even heard of these names before. 

What would her mom think of her if she knew she was a part of such a scandalous conversation?

"I'll take an edible, too, please," Kiyoko adds.

"Anything for you, my love," [Name] agrees, typing something on her phone before glancing at the much shorter manager beside her. "And for you, dearest Hitoka-chan?"

The coy blonde grips her tray a bit tighter, shaking nervously as a smitten heat crawls to her cheeks as result to the pet name. She quickly shakes off the embarrassment, but can't quite escape the nervous jitters jolting through her entire body. "[N-Name]-san, I-I..."

It doesn't take long for her to catch on. "Ah, so this will be your first, too."

She gapes slightly, no longer shaking. "How did you-..."

"Call it intuition," [Name] jokes, waving the notion off. "Well, rest assured, Hitoka-chan, I will go as far out of my way as I need to to make this the most comfortable situation you could possibly be in. You don't have to participate in any activities you aren't comfortable with. Just let me know when you're ready."

Yachi tenses as she feels a hand on her shoulder, following the limb to Kiyoko's comforting smile. "I'll be with you the entire time, too."

Suddenly feeling a lot more relaxed, Yachi allows herself to breathe. The constantly intruding image of her mother begins to fade from her psyche, and she can feel her heartbeat return to a normal pace, as if a weight has been lifted from her internal organs. 

Somewhat determined, Yachi nearly shouts, "I'd like to drink!"

Nearly slapping a hand over her mouth, [Name]'s eyes widen, the corners of her lips twitching into a subtle smile. "A-All right, then! I think I'll just start you off with some Mike's tonight like I am with Hina-chan. That way I can ensure a smoother transition into your tolerance."

"Mike's?" Yachi tilts her head.

"They taste like lemonade. You'll love them," [Name] assures. 

"O-Oh. Okay!"

Kiyoko, clearly amused, sighs as she glances back at the Seirin manager. "You know, [Name]-chan. If you had informed me about this party before the trip, I could've packed my favorite pink bong-..."

Before [Name] can even begin to question the statement, she feels a slender tapping on her shoulder, following it to Akaashi behind her. "Oh. Akaashi-senpai!"

Kiyoko takes the liberty of slipping away while [Name] is preoccupied, not wanting to intrude on whatever conversation they may be having. Eager to finally start her breakfast, Yachi trails after her, biting her lip to combat the swelling array of butterflies swarming inside of her stomach.

"I've got your list," the setter informs her.

"Oh, perfect! Here, air drop it to me."

As [Name] scrolls through the list of alcoholic beverages and other necessities that the Fukurodani team came up with, she frowns slight. Akaashi observantly picks up on it. "What is it?"

"Akaashi-senpai, you forgot to add yourself to this list," she informs him.

Blinking, he places a hand on his hip. "Sorry. I hadn't even realized."

"No worries!" she chirps, behavior flipping in the blink of an eye as she beams as brightly as the rising sun over the horizon outside. "What would you like, then?"

Arms folded, he hums as he ponders a moment, ultimately coming to a pretty quick decision. "I'd be more than happy with a joint, please. I don't mind drinking whatever's lying around forgotten later."

[Name] chuckles. "How resourceful of you. I'll be sure to get you your request, Akaashi-senpai."

"Thank you, [Name]-san," he smiles in return, stealing once last glance at her before returning to the Fukurodani table to finish his breakfast. 

Before the second day of Seirin's rigorous summer training camp can begin --now side-by-side with the members of the Shutoku basketball team, as well-- [Name] sends her "grocery list", for lack of a better term, to her head bodyguard, Romeo. After confirming her orders with him, she gets ready for another day of whipping her team's ass into shape before the Winter Cup prelims, all of her volleyball dorks present to watch her in action. 

With an evil grin, [Name] stands before the two basketball teams proudly in the basketball gym, her chin held high in the air. "Thanks to a completely coincidental sequence of events, from now until the end of the training camp, the Seirin and Shutoku basketball clubs will be practicing in the same gym together!"

Kagami grumbles a meter or so away from her. "Yeah, coincidental my ass."

And as the teams line up to begin their first practice match, [Name] is quick to snatch the redheaded ace by the ear, despite his towering height advantage over her. He yelps as she smirks at him. "Hold your horses, Taiga. You aren't playing."

His brows furrow at this and he doesn't hesitate to struggle out of her hold. "Huh!?"

She isn't phased by his intimidating scowl, digging her wallet out of her denim shorts pocket. "Go buy drinks for everyone."

"HUH!?"

"Run on the beach to the convenience store that's half a kilometer away," she continues with her innocent little smile, offering a wad of cash towards him. "Get going, then!"

"The hell!? Why!?" he barks, most of the volleyball guys who had been taking a break from the baking sun of the beach in the air conditioned gym gluing their eyes to his hostility. "How many laps would all those drinks be in the end!?"

"Be sure to be careful while bringing the bags back! They ought to be heavy!" [Name] adds, sending him a thumbs up. "The fuck are you waiting for? Everyone's already begun practicing, they're bound to get thirsty! Get moving!"

Kagami doesn't continue to question his manager's motives after she provides him with a swift and playful slap to the ass, running out of the gym with steam radiating off of his face as he grumbles under his breath. Riko glances at [Name]'s sly smirk as she watches him go, hands on her hips. The coach had left the manager in complete charge of Kagami's recovery, but she can't help to wonder what tricks the girl has up her sleeve.

As the scrimmages go on without the aid of Seirin's formidable ace, it's clear as day to everyone and their mother that Seirin's overall movement has immensely improved. Even the volleyball guys can discern some kind of shift in talent. After just one day in the sand, they move a lot swifter; quicker on their feet. They take no unnecessary steps and get the ball to where it needs to be in as little time possible.

However, to a few players, just this isn't enough.

Kuroko, happening to be marking Midorima, is on the receiving end of one of Izuki's skillful passes in the midst of one of the scrimmages. However, instead of merely passing it on without a second's hesitation as he normally does, the phantom player immediately palms it, pulling it into his chest with both hands. Midorima, more than aware of Kuroko's misdirection abilities, is visibly shocked by the movement, nearly forgetting to think straight.

After all, Kuroko's misdirection only works when one's attention is on the ball and not Kuroko. By grabbing the ball instead of passing it along in the blink of an eye, Kuroko is purposefully pulling the attention of every player on the court to himself, making his misdirection (his only asset) completely useless. Takao notices this, too, his eyes wide when he sees Midorima's hesitation.

If only he realized it wasn't quite Kuroko's unfinished move that petrified the miracle shooter, but rather the wild grin of the manager on the opposite side of the court, her gold eyes locked on the bluette like a hawk.

Luckily, Takao's able to step in and steal the ball from Kuroko's flank, allowing Midorima to recollect himself before handing it off to the shooter to shoot. He makes the three with ease, as to be expected. However, that enticing glint never fades from [Name]'s eyes, even after they melt back from gold to [E/C]. Kuroko glances at her, recognizing her excitement easily, and smiles.

Midorima's quick to snap Kuroko out of his daze. "You're coming to make some pretty ridiculous plays."

"They're not ridiculous," he quickly denies, prying his eyes away from his manager to instead gaze at the player before him. "I only wish to become stronger."

Midorima scoffs, clicking his tongue. "Don't make me laugh. I couldn't possibly know how you felt after losing to Aomine, but we all already know your limits, Kuroko. And here I thought you always played knowing them, too. Do you really think something within you will change if you try a little harder? Don't forget what you are: a shadow. A man who cannot play by himself cannot improve by himself."

Kuroko frowns at this, but lets Midorima walk away without another word. Instead, he steals one last glance at [Name], hoping to seek some sort of answer from her expression. He's automatically relieved to find that her determination hasn't once wavered, her calculating eyes trailing after Midorima as he returns to his side of the court, that wildly fantastic grin spreading her lips. 

Seems he has nothing to worry about, after all. 

At the end of the day, without Kagami, Seirin lost the majority of their practice matches against Shutoku.

Kiyoshi Teppei, however, took the day to remind his former opponents of his formidable strength.

As Riko walks out of the girls baths just before sunset, feeling rejuvenated after another long and hot day of training on the beach, she nearly shrieks in shock at one of the doors opening outside. She turns to find Kagami, hunched over and panting heavily, his black tank top thrown over his shoulder and plastic bags full of canned drinks in hand.

"K-Kagami-kun?" she utters, eyes wide.

He groans as he straightens up, brows furrowed as he leans on the doorframe tiredly. "Where the hell's [Name]?"

Riko blinks, eyes trailing over his body as she takes in the exponential improvement in Kagami's numbers all across the board. "Finishing her bath. Why?"

Kagami holds up the bags of drinks, displaying just how many he'd bought. "No one was in the gym when I got back. And although I doubt she sent me to get these for anyone to actually drink, I got them all anyway. Back and forth with care, just like she said. I sweat, once I get my hands on her..."

As Kagami begins to rattle off sinister plans to make [Name] suffer for forcing him to miss out on practice matches against Midorima and Shutoku, Riko's eyes widen at the sheer amount of drinks Kagami had bought in the first place. Initially, she thought [Name] had only meant for Kagami to buy drinks for their team. Had [Name] expected Kagami to purchase separate drinks for each member of the five total basketball and volleyball teams present for that day from the beginning?

Just as Riko was about to question this, said manager slinks out of the baths, a towel draped over her still dripping locks. She stops walking when she sees Kagami, no shock evident on her face as she faces him. "Ah, Taiga. You're finally back. Took you long enough."

He growls. "You better watch your mouth, [Name], or I'll shove one of these soda cans down your throat."

As unfazed as ever, [Name] continues to look him up and down as she rubs the towel into her scalp, the golden hues of her irises indicating she's scanning the same progress that Riko had been before. "Kinky."

"I swear to fucking-..."

"You did well. I'll take the drinks from here. You go take a bath."

Kagami forgets his temperament for a moment, arching a brow at her. "A bath? This early? The sun hasn't even set yet."

[Name] rolls her eyes, knocking playfully on Kagami's forehead as she splits the convenience store bags evenly among herself and Riko. "Have you forgotten already, Kagemoron? Has heat stroke gotten to your head?"

Irritated once more in the blink of an eye, he swats her hand away. "Forgotten what?"

The devilishly ethereal manager shoots him a sly wink as she begins heading back down the hall with Riko, towel slipping from her hair as she smiles charmingly at her ace:

"Why, the party, of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for going kinda MIA on y'all. I promise it was for good reason; I'm in just a little over my head at the moment :)
> 
> In any case, I managed to force this chapter out for y'all. it's really sloppily thrown together and I'm not even really taking the time to proofread or edit before posting, so just let me know about any mistakes in the comments when you catch them. I'll be sure to go in and fix any errors.


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